It is not just limited to undergraduate college students, either! You can be in any stage of college, pursuing any degree! There are two main kinds of programs – advantage and regular.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
The Disney College Program Changed My Life
It is not just limited to undergraduate college students, either! You can be in any stage of college, pursuing any degree! There are two main kinds of programs – advantage and regular.
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Internships are something I worry about in terms of where my college experiences needs to go. Among other things to stress over, internships are my biggest anxiety inducer. This article initially caught my eye because of its persuasive title. I have personally never been to Disneyland or world, but it’s all anyone talks about in America, if they’ve been. As a freshman in college, just starting out, everything around me is foreign. I have so many questions about everything. While reading through this article, I had realized that there is so much more to do outside of my own university. I never would’ve known about the Disney College program if I hadn’t read this article, and I’m happy I did because I now want to apply for this internship. This article did a really good job at answering all my questions and continually informing me about all the endless possibilities at Disney. It’s exciting to see that work can also be mixed in with play, and will benefit your career at the same time. Because of this article, I will definitely be doing more research about this program.
If something sounds to good to be true it probably is. I have read extensively on the Disney College Program, along with this article this is not something for me and is a crutch the Disney Company has used for cheap labor. I want to be a Disney Imagineer, besides work ethic, this Program, particularly the one in Florida, would serve no purpose in helping me reach that goal. In a larger picture the College Program hurts the Disney Company. In the California parks the DCP is less prevalent, therefore there is more room for lifelong employees who develop a personal connection and feeling of responsibility for the parks and the service they provide. In Florida the DCP is so rampant that it causes so much turnover that a connection is never made and it feels like a factory. This article is one side of the story, one shown through rose colored glasses and seems as if it was pumped right out of the Disney PR department. She brushes over that you are living in quarters much tighter than college dorms and you are working all the crappy shifts with bad customer service, no matter how much Traditions training they've had. This is only one side of the story.
This article caught my eye because I grew up in Florida, and many of my childhood memories are rooted in Disney vacation weekends. I have heard a great deal about the Disney College Program from friends and family who have participated in it in the past few years. Everyone I know that has attended "Disney University" has had incredibly positive experiences. At times the program seems to really consume your entire life, but that's what college is anyway, right? I enjoyed this article because I got to read another person's perspective (who I didn't know personally) of the program. I think that, depending on what your career goals are, the Disney College Program can be an amazing opportunity for many young students. Theatre students especially, that are interested in working as Disney characters, can benefit from participating in this program as there are many performance opportunities for the college students.
The Disney college program is something that I know a lot of students and post grad students take apart in. While everyone says their experience is great, it does not seem like this is a real internship. They give the students real job, just like the girl in the article she was a life guard. The worst part is they do these jobs and get paid less than minimum wage, and have to perform serious tasks at work. While I understand it must be great to say you have interned at Disney, I do not believe that this is a real internship. In the article it is mentioned they maybe get one networking event during their time. I feel like there should be more conversations and opportunities for the interns to get to talk and meet with executives of Disney. They have so many employees I feel like it would not be hard to schedule something like that. This internship does not seem to be for me but a lot of people like it.
I have looked into this program several times over the past few years. Like any study abroad program, I have just not been able to commit to the idea of being away from my college for that long. I worry about how CMU would handle me taking a whole semester off, and I always worry about being forced to take math as a Gen-Ed at Disney or any other school. Not only that, but personally none of the jobs offered ever appealed to me. That was, until I worked at Six Flags for a summer. I wasn't a character escort, but I worked closely with them, and I performed similar duties when taking my drummers on roams around the park. I loved it. I loved being knowledgeable about this park I love and being able to help people have a great time. Now, the Disney College Program is actually a possibility for me, but there are still many hurdles and conversations I need to have before I decide to apply or not.
My best friend did this program this past year, and she absolutely loved it. She worked at a cafe, and although she was just in food service, the program got her insight to the company and her name in the company. It is just a start, but it is a foot in the door. Since childhood, it was her dream to be a graphic designer for Disney. The Disney college program was the perfect opportunity for her to start this journey. She is studying design at Florida State, and was so excited to be accepted into the program. I think it is a great idea for Disney to offer this opportunity for college kids, and it was a really smart idea. For my friend at least, she got to live close to the parks with other students in the program, and got to know Disney from the inside. She had so much fun, and will continue working towards her goal to someday work for Disney one day. The students do get paid as well. It is not a ton, but the experience is, in her words, “totally worth it”.
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