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13th Aug 2011

Disney CRP Insurance

Advice CRP 2012/13 Insurance Pre-Disney

For me this week has been all about insurance. I am possibly the world’s most unlucky person when it comes to travel Insurance, in my 22 years of life I have made 5 separate claims. So I have an interest in finding a good quality policy that will actually pay out if I need it to. Not saying I am going to claim but knowing my luck…

The insurance required is fairly specific and has to give certain cover levels, specifically:

  • Medical benefits of at least $50,000 per accident or illness
  • Repatriation of remains in the amount of $7,500
  • Expenses associated with the medical evacuation of the exchange visitor to his/her home country in the amount of $10,000 and
  • A deductible not to exceed $500 per accident or illness

More importantly it needs to cover for undertaking paid work and for the fact that when arriving we do not have a return flight booked, only a one-way ticket.

Yummy Jobs suggest 2 different providers STA Travel and Seven Corners. Given my previous history I made sure to read all the terms and conditions. Reading the STA travel terms I discovered something suspicious. In the exceptions section the terms say:

In respect of one-way journeys cover will cease 24 hours after arrival at the final destination

Which is fairly ambiguous as to whether the cover will be available if I only have a one-way flight booked. I rang STA travel to ask and they could not give me a straight answer so I am not going to risk it. As much as I trust Yummy Jobs I really don’t want to end up in the situation where if I came to claim they would say that I am not covered.

So the next option was Seven Corners. They offer a range of cover levels with different deductible amounts. I am keen to minimise the deductible so that if I claim it does not cost too much. Seven Corners offer a $0 deductible which at first glance looks like a great deal however there is also a co-insurance which means that you pay 20% of the first $5000 that you claim so for a major injury it could cost up to $1000 which is too much for me.

This left me with a difficult choice – insurance which might not cover due to the one-way flight or one that will be really expensive if I need to claim. I spoke to a few people I know who have spent time working in the USA and they pointed me the International Medical Group (IMG) who offer insurance specifically for J1 students and cultural exchange participants (which is the visa we use for the CRP) called the Patriot Exchange Program. It has all the necessary cover and only a $100 deductible and no co-insurance which is perfect for me. The other advantage is that if you buy more than 3 months with them you can extend the cover for up to 2 years. While I think I am probably going to take the Disney insurance after the 4th month it is nice to know that I can extend if necessary.

So after a long week of deciding I think I am going to go with the IMG insurance although I don’t need to buy that until much nearer the time so after a slightly stressful week of reading through the small print of travel insurance it is actually going to be months until I actually buy it. Well at least I got the looking out of the way!

In other news this week, I bought Beyond Disney: The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando, Seaworld & the Best of Central Florida which I have had great fun reading. In 2 summer ICPs I have only been to Universal once in 2008, before the Wizarding World, so I felt like it was a good idea to find out what I have been missing out on. As much as I dislike much of Universal I am sure that in a year I will be going more than once.

Don’t take any of this as advice on which insurance to get, I am not in a position to give advice. You need to check that any insurance you get is suitable for you.

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5th Aug 2011

CRB Check Back, Still not a criminal

CRP 2012/13 Pre-Disney

I was starting to get a little worried, I sent my CRB form to Yummy Jobs almost 3 weeks ago and had not heard anything back. Suddenly started wondering if that parking ticket from 2007 was about to come back and bite me but thankfully that was not to be. This morning my disclosure arrived and had the wonderful words ‘None Recorded’ so I am good to go criminal convictions wise. To be honest I knew I wasn’t a criminal already but it is nice to have it in black and white.

Disney-wise life has been fairly quiet for the last few weeks so I have not had a lot to post about. In order that this is not a mind-numbingly boring post I decided to drag out my 2009 program guide and have a read.

For those of you that are not aware the program guide is the bible to the Disney programs that you are given as soon as you arrive in housing and it contains a huge amount of information on everything from what you need to wear to Traditions to where the nearest hospitals. libraries and churches are. Most of it is not that interesting outside of the context of actually being there and needing to find a phone number but I thought posting the traditions guidelines might be helpful for those leaving soon to make sure they have the right things packed.

Traditions Clothing Guidelines (From 2009 Program Guide)

IMPORTANT: These were the rules in 2009, I doubt they will have changed significantly but they might have, make sure you read the real ones when you get them!

Women

Acceptable
  • Dress, suit or dress pants with blouse or polo-style shirt are preferred.
  • Clothing should be neat, pressed and conservative in nature. Shirts should be tucked in.
  • Dress shoes are required
  • Hosiery must be worn, or if wearing pants, socks may be worn in place of hosiery
  • Hair must be neatly arrange in a conservative style.
  • Hair color must be natural looking, well maintained and complementary to your skin tone.
  • Refer to The Disney Look book for guidelines on nail polish and jewelry (including earrings).
Unacceptable
  • NO jeans, spandex or sheer fabrics
  • NO sleeveless blouses or dresses
  • NO dress or skirt length shorter than 3 inches above the kneecap and no longer than 3 inches above the ankle bone
  • NO T-Shirts
  • NO Shorts
  • NO sandals, athletic shoes, sneakers, tennis shoes, platform shoes, cowboy boots or flip flops
  • NO jewelry may be worn in body piercing, including, but not limited to, the tongue
  • NO visible tatoos

Men

Acceptable
  • Suit or dress trousers and collared shirt (oxford or polo-style) are preferred
  • Clothing should be neat, pressed and conservative in nature. Shirts should be tucked in.
  • Dress shoes and socks are required.
  • Sideburns should be neatly trimmed, straight and of even width, and may not extend beyond the bottom of the earlobe
  • Hair must be neatly cut and styled so that it does not extend beyond or cover the ears or collar
  • Hair color must be natural looking, well maintained and complementary to your skin tone
  • Mustaches must be neatly trimmed, not extending past the corners of the mouth and not covering the lip. No extreme styles are permitted.
Unacceptable
  • NO jeans, spandex or sheer fabrics
  • NO T-shirts or other collarless shirts
  • NO shorts
  • NO asymmetrical or bi-level haircuts
  • NO jewelry may be worn in body piercing, including, but not limited to, the ear and tongue
  • NO visible tatoos
  • NO athletic shoes, sneakers, tennis shoes, cowboy boots, flip flops or sandals

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