It's the most magical place on earth for a reason. With over fifty thousand guests a day, it's no secret that keeping Disney World up and running is a colossal effort.
In fact, it takes a team of sixty-two thousand employees, called "cast members", to keep the parks magical. Luckily, a Disney Cast member who recently went through the Disney College Program was happy to fill us in on some little-known facts.
1. How did you find out about the Disney College program?
When I was a freshman in high school, a family friend of mine was applying for the program. She was telling me about how excited she was and that made me become very interested in learning more about it.
As she was doing her college program, I followed her on Facebook and other social media platforms to see what she was experiencing. When I was finally able to apply for my program, I was a sophomore in college.
2. What was the application process like?
Applying to the program is not like a typical job application. At first there is a simple application that asks personal questions like how old you are, if you’re eligible to work in the United States, what your work experience was and so on.
After that, there is a section that asks about what role you believe you would be best fit for. Once completing those, your application is sent through a computer algorithm. If the computer believes that you’re a good fit for the next part, then the applicant will receive an email that explains the next step.
In the email, there is a link to another questionnaire that you have three days to complete. The questions are about you and your personal life and each question is timed for about twenty seconds. For example, one of the questions would be “are you a clean person” and the answer choices would be “strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree” once you answer the question it will move to the next, if you do not answer the question in the time allotted to you, it will skip the question and move you to the next.
Once again, your personality interview will be sent through an algorithm and if you pass you will receive another email to set up a phone interview.
After scheduling your phone interview, a Disney recruiter or representative will give you a call at the specified time and just ask you simple questions about the program and why you put interest in each role. Make sure to ask questions about the program and to seem very interested on the phone. When you finish your phone interview then it is just a waiting game.
Depending on when you apply will determine when you will be notified of your acceptance. My advice is if you do not get in the first time, definitely try again because I am speaking from experience. Around 30,000 people apply and about 5,000 of those applicants get accepted every semester.
3. What was your job at Disney?
I was a seater at "Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano" in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. My role is comparable to being a hostess at a restaurant.
My responsibilities included but were not just limited to: checking guests in for their reservations at the podium, greeting guests at the door, bringing guests to their table, and helping guests in any way I could.
4. What was your favorite part about the job?
My favorite part of the job was the guest interaction. I had the opportunity to work in place filled with people and create some pretty magical moments. There were so many children that were dressed up like their favorite princess or like a pirate and seeing that every day really makes the experience what it was.
I made magical moments for people of all ages from helping them out with a free fast pass or a small piece of merchandise to just show that we care about our guests and want them to fee like they are an individual out of the big picture.
Over the course of the program, I must have spoken to thousands of people from all over the world which was also fantastic. Just having that one on one interaction with the guest made the experience worth my while.
5. What were the special perks to working there?
There are lots of perks to doing a college program. Being that you are working for the Company, you need to have knowledge of each park or each area of the Resort, so as a courtesy to our guests, and ourselves, we were given admission to the parks whenever we were not required to be at work.
As well as our own self-admission, after working a certain amount of hours we earned free tickets for friends and family to come to the parks. There were also discounts on merchandise as well as tickets and experiences.
7. How was living at Disney?
Living at Disney was pretty great. I lived with five other girls in a three bedroom apartment. There are four housing complexes: Vista Way, The Commons, Chatham Square, and Patterson Court. I lived in Vista Way in a six person apartment. Each apartment complex has a different price per week.
I personally paid about $100 per week, which was the cheapest out of all the complexes and the cheapest as far as how many roommates you have. As for finding roommates, you can do a roommate survey on social media with other participants or you can go random.
There are some apartments with two people per apartment and some with eight people per apartment, it usually is based on what is available and what you put down as far as interest. There is also the option of living off of Disney property, but then you would need to provide your own method of transportation.
Living on Disney property will provide you with public transportation, but it is still HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to bring a car if you have one.
8. What was a typical day like?
A typical day for me was waking up and going to work, usually for a six-eight hour shift and then either going to a park that was open later, or heading to Disney Springs with some friends or coworkers.
Usually, my day would begin between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. On a day off, I would either be catching up on some homework and sleep, doing some errands for my apartment and/or going into a park with some friends.
9. What was it like taking classes at Disney world?
Personally, I did not take any classes through Disney University at Disney. Your specific university will explain to you if your university will accept the Disney credits.
If your university does not accept the credit then you are unable to participate in Disney-run courses. Although, you can sign up for seminars where you do not earn credit. That is where many people were able to network and get good contacts.
With that being said, I did take classes through my university back in New Jersey. I currently attend William Paterson University and I took two online classes as well as earned internship credits for this program. As stated before, just speak to an advisor at your university to see how the credits will line up for you, usually, it is a case by case basis.
10. What something that may be surprising to people about the program?
Coming into this program not many people realize what they are getting themselves into. As a college program participant, you are moving your life down to Disney to work for a period of time while earning money and/or college credit.
This program is not all about the parks and fun because work is involved. Some people would be surprised about this. Working at Disney comes with a lot of perks, but not so many benefits, at least on the college program. You are working full time, so about thirty to forty plus hours in a week as well as trying to keep up with school work and keeping a social life.
This program is not for everyone. Even if you are a Disney freak and believe that this is the place to be, if you are unable to handle a hefty schedule and long work hours, I would not recommend this.
Also, Disney reserves the right to terminate your employement at any given time for any given reason. With that being said, there is a point system to calling out or being late or having anything on your record card. Getting points is not a bad thing, but getting too many of them can become a bad thing.
Calling out will cause you to receive a point and being late will cause you to have a half point. Calling out and going to the parks is grounds for instant termination. Just make sure to be careful with calling out because CP’s do not get sick days or personal days because we do not receive benefits.
11. What do you miss most about the program?
I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss the parks because I do, but I mostly miss my friends that I made there. I lived and worked with people from all over the world and when we all had to move out we all had to say our goodbyes.
There are a lot of people that I won't see for a while or possibly ever again, but these people are what made the experience for me and made the magic real.
12. What did you get out of the program?
I not only made so many friends, but I also made so many connections and built a great network. I became very close with my leadership team and am currently still in contact with them because I do plan on returning to the company at some point in my life and hopefully working there full time.
If all of this information has you dreaming of being a part of the Disney College Program, you can apply here today.
