Moving the Kidult to the House of the Mouse

[Katie]

The Kidult (formerly Miss Katie and the Teen) had sworn us to secrecy - well, online - and now we can spill the beans, so I can start this TR.

When the Kidult and I were at Disneyworld (Florida, USA) in 2024, we met a young man from Brisbane, working for Disney, on some kind of college exchange program. He tells the Kidult she should do it too.
Then, in January 2026, the Kidult sees that applications are open for the Disney International Exchange AU/NZ program. She can't contain her excitement, and her application to work at Disneyworld in this program is submitted within a day of the applications opening. The International Exchange program is an international variant of the Disney College Program, where college/uni students spend a semester or two working for Disney.
For Aussies, it comes under a J1 visa, they're allowed to work, and continuing Uni study during the program is really up to the student and the remote learning access for their uni. Each month of the program, they must submit a report about cultural activities they've undertaken - that can't be going to a theme park. Options might include visiting the nearest Buc-ees, going to a baseball game, and so on (to the Kidult's horror, I've suggested a few times that attending a very American church service could be cultural experience). There's accommodation available near Disney, which they need to pay for, and the participants are meant to have a minimum of 30hrs/week work and are currently paid USD 18/hr.

After submitting the application, it was maybe 2 months of anxious waiting before hearing anything back from Disney. Then - success! She was in for an interview in late April. The Disney recruiters were on a tour of Aus and NZ, and interviews were in most AU capital cities and one or two NZ big cities I think. The interview went well, she bonded with the interviewer over a love of specific Disney characters - how many job interviews are you asked about your favourite Disney characters and it's not some weird psychological assessment of you??
The recruiters also held an information session to discuss visa application, accommodation, the "Disney look", working at Disney and all of that information to help them make an an informed decision about their application. The applicants also get to nominate three roles they're interested in - such as Photographer, Ride attendant, Custodial, Character assistant, Food and beverage service, Hotel concierge. I think Disney still reserves the right to put them anywhere they need them, though.
Disneyworld has 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, and something like 30 hotels where staff may work.

In May she received an offer for a position! Do you think she waited to accept??!!

Her DS2019 paperwork (needed to be able to make the booking for the J1 visa appointment at a US Consulate in SYD, MEL or PER) finally came through in June. She then spent hours online on a Friday night entering information and waiting in an online queue to book her visa appointment at the US consulate in SYD. She got through, and the first visa appointment was for 11 August - and her start date was meant to be 17 August!! Luckily I'd researched and knew there was an expedite process for J1 visa applications. She submitted the expedite application that night, and over the weekend approval came through for an earlier appointment in July. To keep her costs down, I got her CR flights to/from Sydney. The consulate is in an easy spot to get to from the airport on the train, even if you stop at Kinokuniya or Haigh's on the way.

The passport and J1 visa came back in the week of 3 August. Eek! Felt very fine timing; the application sat at Approved for about 10 days before it became Issued. Really stressful time in our household. Even Disney recruiters were emailing her asking if her visa had come through yet ...

 

[kookaburra75]

So one question, will you be carrying her bags to get there?
It sounds like a heap of fun.

 

[Katie]

So one question, will you be carrying her bags to get there?
It sounds like a heap of fun.

How can it be a trip report without a bit of tripping??

 

[Katie]

So, in the lead up to the potential trip this year, we've been trying to get the Kidult to adult more - cooking dinner, etc. She's good at laundry, which is a start. I completely failed in helping her with cleaning tasks.
She tells me she knows, oh, except how to clean a bathroom. Hopefully she thinks to search Youtube ...

There were many comments about "we just don't want you to be the worst housemate in the campus!".

The campus accommodation has a few apartment configurations; I think all involve sharing a bathroom with one other person, but could be wrong. The most requested is where you get your own bedroom, and that costs about $275/week. The cheapest is where you share a bedroom and a bathroom with one other person, and the overall apartment with 3 other people (2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, 2 people share each with a lounge and kitchen) for about $240/week. You put in a request and you get what you get.
Wifi and utilities are included in the rent, the participants are responsible for all meals. At the campuses, there's gyms, pools, beach volleyball, and training rooms for the various training classes and sessions with guest visitors - John Stamos and Jodi Sweeten visited the other week and gave a talk. It's run by an external company, but only Disney college students, culinary interns and other interns can live there. It's a gated campus, and even parents can't get in without their child meeting them and escorting them into the campus. From a parent's perspective, that's reassuring.
There's a small mall area nearby, with Starbucks, a baby Target, Walgreens, some restaurants and some hotels.

Even though it would be the standard recommendation, I couldn't wait until the Kidult got her visa to book flights. In early June, when we knew she had the offer, I booked Mr Katie and my flights on separate QF vouchers, managing to book BNE-SYD-DFW-MCO-MIA-LAX-SYD-BNE on the voucher site. There were booking issues that IIRC I had to follow up with the call centre.

I got a CR released for the Kidult, so it didn't eat into her savings to pay for a Y flight. Mum and Dad are determined to have her build more independence, so paying for the flights, visas, courier, etc, etc, etc, was all up to her. That reminds me, she owes me points for the CR ...

We were all booked in Premium Economy for the big flight(s).

Some stress when QF cancelled our BNE-SYD flight, urrgghh, flying on a Saturday. They put us on a later flight, arriving into SYD at 11:00 to connect with QF7 departing at 12:00. Uh, no thank you.
The first call centre agent I got was able to move Mr Katie and my flights to an earlier one, but not the Kidult's as "it's a reward booking". That was pending for a while until some AFF friends sagely advised that QF made the change and it's up to them to rebook on a flight suitable to us, award booking or not. We got the Kidult onto the same flight when I got an amazing call centre agent, who said she'd send feedback to the first agent about rearranging cancelled flights.

I got a bit of practice assuring QF that I had my spouse and the Kidult's permission to act on their bookings on their behalf. The amazing call centre agent was able to link our 3 bookings, which helped with seat selection.

 

[ellen10]

Sounds like a great adventure and a wonderful experience for your Kidult.

 

[Flyfrequently]

What a wonderful adventure for your Kidult @Katie
Your heart must be bursting with (a bit of apprehension) pride

 

[Seat0B]

How exciting for her! And exciting-scary for you @Katie. The US work culture may be a bit of a shock to her if she has any Aussie work experience. This will be something that is very formative for the course of her life - lessons in adulting, lessons you learn when you get what you want really badly, time to appreciate the comforts of home, love of family and Australia, time to feel homesick and realise you won’t die of it, time to spread her wings.
And still, I’m glad I’m not doing Kidult again myself!!!

 

[Pushka]

So, which characters does the Kidult like the most?
This sounds like a fabulous experience - for all!

 

[Katie]

So, which characters does the Kidult like the most?
This sounds like a fabulous experience - for all!

The muppets are up there. We were at the Hollywood Studios park in 2024 on the day they announced the Muppets area was to be closed and turned into a Monsters, Inc area. We tried to focus on the other news that the Rock'n'Roller Coaster was being rethemed from Aerosmith to the Muppets as part of the changes. And now she's ridden that ride at least 5 times since getting over there!

 

[Katie]

A curiosity in the leadup to the trip was that for our MCO-MIA-LAX legs on AA, I was able to select Main Cabin Extra seats for free, but Mr Katie was not. We were both on QF Y+ tickets, and in the past year or so, I've been able to select the MCE seats on AA without extra charge. This used to be a perk for OWE, but AA only offer it to their Emerald members and it's explicitly not a perk for QF WPs flying AA in Y. I think because we're actually on Y+ tickets, it was allowed, but it was strange that it was free for me, but showing a cost for Mr Katie.
This seat selection was through the AA app, as the seat selection offerings in the QF app/site for AA flights is abysmal, much further back than you can manage yourself directly with AA IMNSHO.

Main Cabin Extra was an option for the two of us for DFW-MCO, but we chose to just have the three of us sit in row 13 instead - a bit tight to pay for seat selection for the Kidult. Of all the places not to spend the money!

A week or so before our flights, I happened to check Mr Katie's booking and noticed his seat selections for the AA flights were all gone. We'd even used Amex points to pay for his seat selection for MIA-LAX. I went back into the AA app, and was able to select seats in MCE for him for free. No idea what changed since we'd first booked!

Dinner's ready, need to pause here.

 

[VPS]

What a great experience for her

 

[Katie]

Departure day
QF507 BNE-SYD dep 735 arr 915
As we were on separate bookings, I wanted to arrive at the airport at about 600 to ensure our checkin went well. For 3 of us, we had 5 bags to check in - 3 belonged to the Kidult. We had loaded up on some toiletries (brands only available here), and she'd also been asked by a friend to take a heap of Disney pins to the US to post or deliver in person, so that probably helped to bulk out her luggage a bit. She dealt with the packing, so I really have no idea what she packed. Only two pair of shoes, I know that!
At this stage, she's due to come back in January, but she plans to request an extension for the full year when that option opens up this month or next.

I pre-ordered an UberXL, as the cruise line car service we'd used last year no longer seems to be operating. That worked well for all of our luggage, and we arrived at the airport just after my MIL and SIL, and the other SIL and nephews met us as we were walking to checkin - and helped us with bags.
Checkin was fine, through security and we went to the gate as we couldn't guest the non-flying family into the lounge. Lots of chats, and I also caught up with 2 friends who were heading to Peru to hike and maybe do some kind of volunteering for a few weeks.

Anticipating a temperature difference as we travel:


While our bookings had been connected, the Kidult ended up in a window seat a few rows behind us. Not a big deal for a short flight. I accidentally got myself settled in the C seat, but I was actually in the F seat. Hurriedly moved myself. Chockers flight, so no hope of a WP shadow between Mr Katie and me.

I can see our bags being loaded


Trying to spot the homes of the ILs on the southside


I partook of the inflight brekky offering, even though I knew better things were to come.


As usual, searingly hot and hard to touch for a few minutes until the air con cools it down.


Soon enough, we landed and scarpered to the transfer bus. The additional US security screening seems to be gone? No-one to interrogate us and add a sticker to our passports at the gate. Our friends didn't make the same bus, so we texted and said our Bon Voyages.

Security was fairly quick, even with no priority as we were all in Y+ at that stage. The Kidult had their sunflower lanyard on, so we were sent to the end, which for her is honestly unnecessary as it seemed to take longer to go through than the regular lines, but it's good to see sunflower lanyards recognised. Not much wandering of the terminal, we were up to the FLounge.

I guess because it's so well documented, I didn't bother to take photos of the full menu, but I took a pic of the juice offerings??


My BFF joined us for some morning bevvies.


Added a juice - oops, more bevvies than hands.


I had a pork something something omelette, which was yummy.


We later moved to near the library to sit for a bit before making our way to gate 8/9 to board QF7. About 15 mins before boarding, I checked my BP in the app and saw an awkward message. I had been upgraded. I got Mr Katie to check his app ... no ugrade for him. Oops. Maybe I should have changed my name when we married. So, Mr Katie and the Kidult were in 33J and 33K, while I was in 17E. So far, we're still married.

QF8 SYD-DFW dep 1200 arr 1230
We departed late, arrived late, but only 20-45 mins IIRC.

Lunch after departure, entree was the chicken skewers

For main, I had the beef, which is very nice in J IMNSHO.


Then a cheesecake for dessert and off to sleep.


Breakfast
I barely ate any as I was feeling nauseous.


Getting close to DFW


We split up for immigration; I went to Global Entry and the other two went to regular processing. The US immigration agent was no happy the AU border control had removed the Kidult's DS 2019 form from her passport. The consulate had stapled it in, and stapling it while folded also made it hard to read ... anyway, we all made it through to the absolute cluster f*&k of luggage carousels at DFW.

The airport had put 2-3 arriving flights on the same carousel. Then part way through, they put QF7 on another carousel. I had at least 3 bags before the other 2 arrived. We finally had 4 bags, but couldn't find the fifth. The Kidult found it to the side of the first carousel.

Luggage drop, through security upstairs, glad to not have to remove shoes. I took one for the team and stayed with my jet lagged family rather than go to the next TSA check that had Pre-Check.
We popped into the Flagship lounge, changed into shorts from jeans, and then made our way to Terminal something else for our flight to MCO.

AA2791 DFW-MCO dep 1631 arr 2020

For this flight, we were together in 13 ABC. Typical AA economy flight.


Bye DFW


Hello Florida


Landing in MCO