Why I am Not Applying for Mom's Panel

Yes, you read that right, I am not applying for the Mom's Panel this year. I enjoyed the application experience for the most part last year, outside of the waiting period and anxiety associated with it, but I have decided to skip it for this year.  No, I am not being a quitter, and I am not scared of not being accepted. I am not applying this year because I am focusing on applying to Disney in another way....a more permanent way. 

My ultimate dream is to work in the parks, to be a cast member, and I realized that if I applied for the Mom's Panel, I really wouldn't be able to focus on my ultimate goal as much. Where would I like to work in the parks? Well, I would be happy just about anywhere really, but what I am working to apply for is the Disney Youth Programs.  I feel that my Education degree will really shine working with one of these programs (plus, it won't make my family feel as bad for paying for me to get a degree for me to "just work at Disney").

This process of applying could take a while, but I am willing to stick it out because I know it is what I want to do and every day of experience I get will get me closer to that dream job. Just thought I would head off any questions by answering it in the blog post now. I would like to wish a BIG Good Luck and send some pixie dust to anyone who is applying for Mom's Panel, Disney would benefit from all of your input and wisdom!

The Disney Mom's Panel Quest

Last Year, I was new to the Disney Internet world, was just getting into blogs, forums, radio sites and such.  I don't think I had even heard of Mom's Panel until around this time last year, when I saw some of my twitter friends applying.  At that point, I hadn't been to Walt Disney World in 2 years, so I wouldn't have been able to apply anyway. 

This year, however, is much different. I've been to Disney twice in the last 4 months and know my way around Disney sites quite well.  So, I decided I should apply for the Mom's Panel. And so I did, this morning, at 9 am eastern when the application period opened.  There were 3 questions we had to answer in 100 words or less to give the judges an idea about how knowledgeable we were on the subject of Disney.  Disney then takes these three questions and see's if you are able to go onto the next round.  In this first round, they take 20,000 applicants, which is enormous! They have to sort through all of these and they choose something around 500 to move on.  The percentages are small, but to be chosen to move on is a great honor, even if you do not make it to the final round!

This is the trials and tribulations that I will be going through, at least for the next few weeks.  I submitted my application and now we have to wait til November 8th to hear if we have moved on.  Feels like it will be an eternity!

For those of you who may not be too familiar with the Disney Mom's Panel, it is a program started by Disney a few years ago where anyone can submit questions and have the "Mom's Panel" answer them for you.  They are a group of people who add a personal touch when answering questions about planning a trip to a Disney location.  Check out their site and ask away by clicking here.

A HUGE Good Luck to everyone who has applied!