Step 1: Experience. One of the biggest questions us applicants can't seem to get the answer to is 'What experience do you need?'. It seems that some people get through with very little experience, and others get rejected with loads. However, most people have some kind of related work experience, even if they are straight out of full-time education. The roles in the CRP are in food and beverage (F&B) or Merchandise (Merch), therefore I think it makes sense to get as much work experience in those areas as you can. Remember, the first thing the recruiters see from you is your CV, so you have to make it shine! As soon as you decide you want to take part in the program, I'd look at the experience you have and find ways to make it better. So for example, I have experience working in merch in shops, but nothing in food and beverage, which is why I got the job at McDonald's because I figured, every little helps!
By the time it gets to the phone interview stage you will need to show that you can deliver good customer service, and the best way to do that is by giving examples.
Having said that, if the application date is approaching and you don't have time to get any experience, go for it anyway! Maybe indicate in your cover letter that you hope to get some experience soon, and instead make the most of any teams you've taken part in, and other qualities you have. As long as you can think ahead and imagine how'd you'd deal with certain situtations (e.g. what would you do if you worked in F&B and someone didn't like their food, someone pushes ahead in the queue so how would you deal with it etc) then you should be OK!
Step 2: Application. The recruiters for the UK and Canada are Yummy Jobs. Their website is www.yummyjobs.com and if you have any questions they are a bunch of really helpful, friendly people, so don't feel afraid about asking them anything. Go onto their website and read all about the program and create your profile. You can do this at any time before or after the applications open. This profile is what YJs use to decide whether you get through to the phone interviews or not. During my applications, they had about 1000 applicants and only offered 300 phone interviews, so don't take this stage lightly! If you don't already have a CV, they have a template on their website so you can use that if you want. Although it doesn't say specifically, a cover letter is a great idea as it gives you the chance to highlight the skills gained from the experience in your CV, and is a direct letter to the recruiters allowing you to sell yourself and they also offer information on that on the website. You can either put the cover letter in the 'motivation' box, or upload it with the CV and use the motivation box to say a little bit about yourself like I did. The best, best, best advice I received from other people was to take time over the application. Research good CVs/cover letters, research the program as much as you can and really try and tailor your application to show what you can bring to the company. You need to be hard-working, sociable, good with customers, able to deal and live with people from all around the world, enthusiastic not just about Disney but the actual job itself (it's not a year long holiday in Florida!!) and really dedicated to good customer service, just to mention a few points, so I'd honestly try and make your application show that you have all of those qualities, and more! Although this is a job at the happiest place on earth, it's still a professional application so I'd get people to read over it and check it for any silly (and easy to make!) spelling or grammar mistakes. Finally, once you're all done all you can do is sit back and wait! Once the applications open, all you have to do is log in, go to the program you want to apply for, and click 'apply now'. You should get an automatic email pretty quickly (check your junk mail!) confirming your application. If you don't, just email them to confirm everything went through OK. In some application periods, you can find out within a couple of weeks if you made it to the next stage. For me, it was about 2 months, so prepare for a bit of a wait!
Step 3: Phone Interview. If you get this far, yummy will email you inviting you to select a date and time for your interview. They generally last between about 15 and 45 minutes depending on who you get, but in most cases it will only be 15 minutes. This is probably the best run down of the phone interview that I've ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Llzf-_Lu9E . (Thanks, Kim, you saved my life!) and I'd definitely recommend that you watch it as she gives you some really good advice and a good list of possible questions that could come up. I found it really helpful to prepare some answers in advance, although when it came down to it I only referred to mine for the first couple of questions, when I was nervous, and then just answered the questions honestly and naturally after that. The best advice I could give is to relax and enjoy yourself! Yummy are genuinely not interested in tripping you up or being really judgemental of you. They want to get to know you and are interested in the answers that you give. They've selected you for this stage because they think you have the background they're looking for, so now what they want from you is to find out a bit more about you and how could cope in a stressful situation. So just relax, smile and enjoy yourself! I wish I'd let myself enjoy it right from the start, because as soon as I relaxed into the conversation and just answered naturally, then my answers became much better!
Step four: The face to face interview. The interviews take place in London in the UK and Toronto and Montreal in Canada. In London, the interviews sometimes take place in different venues, but often in WDW HQ (sadly mine got changed from there to Chez Gerard but as compensation I got to visit the South Bank). These take place over two days and yummy will allocate a day for you- although if you really can't make the date you have been given it may be possible for you to swap. It starts off with some form-filling and chit chat with the other candidates and then you go into another room to watch a presentation from the Disney recruiters. This is followed by a quick quiz and then you get given your interview time. You get interviewed in pairs, and usually the people who have the furthest to travel go earlier. As you could be basically hanging around for hours, it's probably a good idea to go for lunch, do a bit of shopping and get to know your fellow applicants while you're waiting! I did that and it made the day so much more enjoyable because we could all get nervous and excited together! The face to face interviews may on occasion be carried out by yummy staff, but are usually conducted by Disney World recruiters, who have flown all the way from sunny Florida to do the interviews! They don't know you like the yummy staff do by this point, so it's a whole new first impression to make, and the most important one of all! They're really nice though so I honestly would say there's nothing to worry about- my biggest failure was that I got too nervous and didn't relax and enjoy myself enough!
Step five: Go to Florida! Once you're accepted, yummy email you with all the information you need, and you get sent a Disney welcome pack, so the next stage is to arrange accommodation, flights and visas, get out there and have the year of your life! Be prepared for a wait though- some people get dates as far as 12 months in advance and other suckers like me get put on the waitlist so the wait even to find that you're going to Florida might take a fair while!