Thursday 25 April 2013
Friday 19 April 2013
Sunday 14 April 2013
50 days to go :D
ARGH it's getting so close now :D
I have my Visa appointment on Tuesday, so just praying I don't slice my fingers open tomorrow at work. Also need to go and get a letter off uni to let the American government know I will be returning to the UK and book my taxi to the airport for 5:15am on Tuesday morning :(
I will try to Vlog as much of the trip as I possibly can and will probably post it on Wednesday or Friday :)
I have my Visa appointment on Tuesday, so just praying I don't slice my fingers open tomorrow at work. Also need to go and get a letter off uni to let the American government know I will be returning to the UK and book my taxi to the airport for 5:15am on Tuesday morning :(
I will try to Vlog as much of the trip as I possibly can and will probably post it on Wednesday or Friday :)
Saturday 13 April 2013
Saturday 6 April 2013
ICP costs
So we all know the ICP is a life changing experience and the summer of a lifetime, but what exactly does this experience cost you? Well I'm going to break that down for you now, hopefully in a nice easy way that everyone can understand.
Interviews
I was quite lucky when it came to interviews as I never had to travel anywhere that far or pay for hotels, but some people had to so keep that in mind. If you live in London, Manchester or Liverpool then you will have the easiest time by far, probably only having to get public transport to the city centre for both interviews. If you are from Edinburgh then you will be okay for the group interviews as they hold a session in Edinburgh, however if you get through to the Individual interviews you will need to be prepared to travel to one of the other cities I mentioned. If you live anywhere else then you will definitely need to travel.
For my group interview I had to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh, I took the train which cost me about £21 return due to the fact I had to travel there during peak time.
For my individual interview I had to travel from Glasgow to Manchester, now I come from Manchester and my Dad works in Glasgow in the week, so I managed to nab a lift home to Manchester off him on the Sunday night and I had free accommodation at home. I did however have to pay for my train back to Glasgow at the end of the week which set me back about £15.
Running Total - £36
Getting there
After finding out you've got into the programme the first thing you are going to want to book is you flights, now these are the biggest single expense you are going to face in the build up to the programme so be prepared for this, extend your overdraft, borrow money from your parents, rob a bank, whatever you do to get money (don't actually rob a bank). My flights set me back £583 *ouch* but remember to book them in advance, I booked mine in November for June, since then the price has fluctuated a fair amount, they were actually about £20 cheaper in the January sales, so if I did it again I may wait until that point. I wanted direct flights which meant they cost a bit more as well, indirect can cost as little as £360 return.
Running Total - £619
Visa
The Visa is another cost you cannot avoid, Disney support your Visa for you which dramatically reduces the cost for you, however you are still required to pay the SEVIS fee which is $35, £23, And the appointment fee which is $160, £105. There is also the scary matter or calling the embassy for your appointment, this sets you back £1.23 per minute from a B.T landline so expect to spend about £5 if there are no problems. When at the embassy you will also be required to pay a courier fee, this is so that the embassy can send your passport back to you once they have put the visa in it, this will cost you another £14(ish) if you go to the Belfast embassy you will need to take a prepaid and addressed special delivery envelope with you instead.
There is also the matter of travel to and from the embassy, I will be flying to and from Belfast for my visa which will set me back about £60 when you include taxi's and busses.
Running Total - £826
Programme Fees
The first programme related fee you will be expected to pay is the cost of a CRB check, this is done via Yummy Jobs so that Disney know you have no criminal background, the check costs £60 and this needs to be paid a few weeks after acceptance. There is also a Program Assessment Fee that you will need to pay to Disney before you depart, this pays for activities at the housing complexes during your stay, this comes in at $100 so about £65.
The last thing you are required to purchase before leaving for America is medical insurance. You have to purchase this through a company that Disney have partnered with and it costs $70 a month, the programme lasts for just over 2 months, which means you have to fork out $210 in medical insurance (which you will probably never even need) this is to comply with visa regualtions. So it will cost about £137. You can choose to take out travel insurance to cover bags and cancelled flights if you wish but this is not a compulsory thing.
Running Total - £1088
Pre-departure costs = £1088
In country
Obviously when you actually arrive in America you will finally start earning some money back, Hooray! However don't forget that you will still have some necessary expenses to think about.
Rent - This varies from apartment to apartment, but you can expect to fork out about $80-$110 per week. Included with the apartment, you also get free transport to and from the parks for work and for leisure, and transport to local supermarkets and malls, internet and bills, access to swimming pools and gym and of course Mickey's Retreat. This amount gets taken out of your weekly pay before it reaches your pocket, so there's no need to worry about paying it out as it will be done for you.
Bedding - Disney don't supply you with bedding, so you can either take this with you in your case, taking up vital clothes and shoes space, or you can purchase it on arrival from Walmart (which is what I plan to do) A bedding set plus pillows will set you back about $50.
Laundry - Unless you have packed enough clothes and underwear to last you 10 weeks you are going to need to do some laundry. There are laundry rooms in easy reach of all apartments and will cost you $1 per wash and $1 per dry.
Food - Don't forget you will need to eat when in america, You also don't get paid until week 2, so you will need take money to last you the first few weeks, I plan to take about $300 to get me through this (not just for food I might add).
But don't forget you do get paid when out there :)
Optional costs
Spending money - I am taking about $700 spending money with me (not including the $300 for the first 2 weeks) this is mainly for travelling afterwards so that I have about $50 a day to do fun things and eat. I will hopefully manage to save up some money throughout the programme as well to put towards this :)
Travel - After the programme I am travelling to LA and NY for a week each. The additional flights are costing about £220 and accommodation about £250 so another £470 in total but that's not bad considering where I am going. Most people would be looking at spending that for a few nights for a hotel in NY :)
Disney hotels - After the programme before travelling I plan to spend 3 nights in a Disney hotel (hopefully animal kingdom lodge) using my cast member discount, I expect this will set me back about £150 but well worth it to experience a top hotel in a magical place for a few nights.
Park tickets - You get free entry into the Disney parks during your programme, but there are other parks in Orlando. I plan to buy myself a universal annual pass for about $180 so that I can attend whenever I want during my programme plus when I have finished the programme. We are also planning to go to Disneyland in California when in LA, so will be buying a 2 day ticket for the parks which will set me back about $160. I will be buying these out of spending money or earnings so are not included in my total below :)
Total cost of my summer = £2308
Wow! Who knew I was so good at saving, the fact I have already paid £1588 of this is amazing, all I have left to pay is my programme assessment and medical insurance and save up my spending money.
If you want a summer job to save up money then this is not for you, but if you want an amazing summer for the price of a decent 2 week holiday then this is for you :) The programme is an experience of a lifetime so expect to pay for it. But if you take off my travelling and optional extras then it will set you back about £1283, the only reason my total is so high is due to extra spending money and travelling.
So there you have it, the costs of the ICP explained to you, I hope this helps future applicants and current applicants alike :)
If you have any questions feel free to ask me.
Interviews
I was quite lucky when it came to interviews as I never had to travel anywhere that far or pay for hotels, but some people had to so keep that in mind. If you live in London, Manchester or Liverpool then you will have the easiest time by far, probably only having to get public transport to the city centre for both interviews. If you are from Edinburgh then you will be okay for the group interviews as they hold a session in Edinburgh, however if you get through to the Individual interviews you will need to be prepared to travel to one of the other cities I mentioned. If you live anywhere else then you will definitely need to travel.
For my group interview I had to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh, I took the train which cost me about £21 return due to the fact I had to travel there during peak time.
For my individual interview I had to travel from Glasgow to Manchester, now I come from Manchester and my Dad works in Glasgow in the week, so I managed to nab a lift home to Manchester off him on the Sunday night and I had free accommodation at home. I did however have to pay for my train back to Glasgow at the end of the week which set me back about £15.
Running Total - £36
Getting there
After finding out you've got into the programme the first thing you are going to want to book is you flights, now these are the biggest single expense you are going to face in the build up to the programme so be prepared for this, extend your overdraft, borrow money from your parents, rob a bank, whatever you do to get money (don't actually rob a bank). My flights set me back £583 *ouch* but remember to book them in advance, I booked mine in November for June, since then the price has fluctuated a fair amount, they were actually about £20 cheaper in the January sales, so if I did it again I may wait until that point. I wanted direct flights which meant they cost a bit more as well, indirect can cost as little as £360 return.
Running Total - £619
Visa
The Visa is another cost you cannot avoid, Disney support your Visa for you which dramatically reduces the cost for you, however you are still required to pay the SEVIS fee which is $35, £23, And the appointment fee which is $160, £105. There is also the scary matter or calling the embassy for your appointment, this sets you back £1.23 per minute from a B.T landline so expect to spend about £5 if there are no problems. When at the embassy you will also be required to pay a courier fee, this is so that the embassy can send your passport back to you once they have put the visa in it, this will cost you another £14(ish) if you go to the Belfast embassy you will need to take a prepaid and addressed special delivery envelope with you instead.
There is also the matter of travel to and from the embassy, I will be flying to and from Belfast for my visa which will set me back about £60 when you include taxi's and busses.
Running Total - £826
Programme Fees
The first programme related fee you will be expected to pay is the cost of a CRB check, this is done via Yummy Jobs so that Disney know you have no criminal background, the check costs £60 and this needs to be paid a few weeks after acceptance. There is also a Program Assessment Fee that you will need to pay to Disney before you depart, this pays for activities at the housing complexes during your stay, this comes in at $100 so about £65.
The last thing you are required to purchase before leaving for America is medical insurance. You have to purchase this through a company that Disney have partnered with and it costs $70 a month, the programme lasts for just over 2 months, which means you have to fork out $210 in medical insurance (which you will probably never even need) this is to comply with visa regualtions. So it will cost about £137. You can choose to take out travel insurance to cover bags and cancelled flights if you wish but this is not a compulsory thing.
Running Total - £1088
Pre-departure costs = £1088
In country
Obviously when you actually arrive in America you will finally start earning some money back, Hooray! However don't forget that you will still have some necessary expenses to think about.
Rent - This varies from apartment to apartment, but you can expect to fork out about $80-$110 per week. Included with the apartment, you also get free transport to and from the parks for work and for leisure, and transport to local supermarkets and malls, internet and bills, access to swimming pools and gym and of course Mickey's Retreat. This amount gets taken out of your weekly pay before it reaches your pocket, so there's no need to worry about paying it out as it will be done for you.
Bedding - Disney don't supply you with bedding, so you can either take this with you in your case, taking up vital clothes and shoes space, or you can purchase it on arrival from Walmart (which is what I plan to do) A bedding set plus pillows will set you back about $50.
Laundry - Unless you have packed enough clothes and underwear to last you 10 weeks you are going to need to do some laundry. There are laundry rooms in easy reach of all apartments and will cost you $1 per wash and $1 per dry.
Food - Don't forget you will need to eat when in america, You also don't get paid until week 2, so you will need take money to last you the first few weeks, I plan to take about $300 to get me through this (not just for food I might add).
But don't forget you do get paid when out there :)
Optional costs
Spending money - I am taking about $700 spending money with me (not including the $300 for the first 2 weeks) this is mainly for travelling afterwards so that I have about $50 a day to do fun things and eat. I will hopefully manage to save up some money throughout the programme as well to put towards this :)
Travel - After the programme I am travelling to LA and NY for a week each. The additional flights are costing about £220 and accommodation about £250 so another £470 in total but that's not bad considering where I am going. Most people would be looking at spending that for a few nights for a hotel in NY :)
Disney hotels - After the programme before travelling I plan to spend 3 nights in a Disney hotel (hopefully animal kingdom lodge) using my cast member discount, I expect this will set me back about £150 but well worth it to experience a top hotel in a magical place for a few nights.
Park tickets - You get free entry into the Disney parks during your programme, but there are other parks in Orlando. I plan to buy myself a universal annual pass for about $180 so that I can attend whenever I want during my programme plus when I have finished the programme. We are also planning to go to Disneyland in California when in LA, so will be buying a 2 day ticket for the parks which will set me back about $160. I will be buying these out of spending money or earnings so are not included in my total below :)
Total cost of my summer = £2308
Wow! Who knew I was so good at saving, the fact I have already paid £1588 of this is amazing, all I have left to pay is my programme assessment and medical insurance and save up my spending money.
If you want a summer job to save up money then this is not for you, but if you want an amazing summer for the price of a decent 2 week holiday then this is for you :) The programme is an experience of a lifetime so expect to pay for it. But if you take off my travelling and optional extras then it will set you back about £1283, the only reason my total is so high is due to extra spending money and travelling.
So there you have it, the costs of the ICP explained to you, I hope this helps future applicants and current applicants alike :)
If you have any questions feel free to ask me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)