The WDW ICP Costs

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In this blog post I wanted to give you an idea of how much it'll cost you to take part in the programme including any optional costs.

Basic Costs:
  • Train travel for 2 interviews - Varies, personally I spent about £60 total.
  • Hotels for 2 interviews - Varies. I spent nothing as I stayed overnight in London at home and it was just a day trip to Manchester.
  • CRB Check - £60
  • Flights - Varies between £480-600 depending where you are flying from and to where and if you upgrade to a better class of travel. The basic cost of my flight was £580 from Virgin Atlantic.
  • Program Assessment Fee - $100 or about £60
  • Visa Appointment  Fee - apparently now $160 - about £105 with today's exchange rates! - plus £14.80 for your passport to be returned.
  • Travel insurance - £50-100.
  • Compulsory Medical insurance - $210 which works out to be £138
  • Spending money to survive on first 2 weeks as you are not paid - $300 minimum recommended.
Total: £1280 assuming travel insurance is £75 and $300 spending money works out at £200.

My Extras:
  • Premium economy upgrade on way back so that I could have 2 suitcases and a more relaxing flight with more leg room. Deserved after weeks of hard work and I've never been on such a long flight - £130.
  • Changed flight to return from LA - £90 change fee with Virgin Atlantic + difference in fare of £103.
  • Hotel the night before in Gatwick due to early flight - £20 (Sharing with a friend)
  • Hotel in New York - about £165 in hostel including taxes for 3 nights
  • Hotel in Los Angeles - about £200 in hotel close to Disneyland including taxes for 6 nights (shared with a friend, splitting the cost)
  • Flight to New York - £90
  • Flight to Los Angeles - £114
  • Annual pass for Universal Orlando - $277 with tax or about £180.
  • Tickets for Disneyland Anaheim and Universal Hollywood (Citypass) - £190 (possibly free if we can get in using cast badges)
  • Spending money to survive on after the program whilst travelling - an extra £500, and hopefully will have SOME savings (however small) from working at Disney for clothes shopping etc.
Total: £1092 extra, excluding Disneyland tickets and spending money.

As you can see I have a lot of added costs mainly because I have never been to America before and therefore will be using the opportunity after to travel. None of them are needed but I thought I'd make the most of the time I am there as it could be many years before I travel back. Also, there's going to be a few like-minded people with me at Disneyland California and at Universal Orlando so I thought I'd get those in too. I've always wanted to do the Universal Hollywood studio tram tour so that's on the list too.

Overall, this is a hugely expensive program and I'm not planning on making any kind of profit from it and having done the math there is no way I'll even be able to break even, but it does include travelling in some of the most expensive cities in the world and I'm sure the entire experience will be worth it all. It's not all about money!

What happened next? Read my March update. 

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