I noticed that both last year and this year with Disney. I think they post it when they are backed up with requests and it comes down a few days later. I saw that message on 1/25, applied 1/27 and received approval yesterday.
Highlights does not respond, they just ship to school. It takes about 4-6 wks. Make sure you only apply once per calendar year - I applied late last year, so this year I wanted to apply earlier and I got the slap on the hand for having two requests within the calendar year. We only hold one event per year, so it was just the timing of submitting the requests that was off. I made sure to note it in our files for the person who does this next year.
I applied for Disney about 1 week ago. Within a few days I got a response stating I would get them. I wonder what happened with Disney. Maybe too many requests at once? I would try again.