ERic'sPage

The Disney College Program has been going on a number of years, and is an opportunity to Live, Learn, and Earn at one of Disney's Theme Parks or Resorts.  The one I participated in was the Walt Disney World College Program during the Fall 1999 semester.  This was pretty cool, since we would be the program that would be participating during the start of their Millennium Celebration as well as the group that would spend the start of the year 2000 working at Walt Disney World.

The CP, or  College Program offers you the chance to Live with people from all over the country as well as all over the world, Learn about how the world's largest magic making companies came to be and continues to exist, and Earn your paycheck by working as a Cast Member in departments such as Attractions, Food Service, Merchandise, Custodial, Transportation, and other positions within the Walt Disney World Resort.  It is fun, but "hard" being that there are so many changes and rules to follow that you must get aquatinted with rather quickly.  Depending on the attitude you go in with, it can be a fun learning experience.

As far as the program goes, there are the 3 elements you must complete to get your "Degree" from the program.  You must complete the Living, Learning (which consists of core seminars as well as electives and Earning (completing you assigned job position without getting fired) to complete the program.  There are three levels of "Degrees" which you may earn: Certificate of Recognition, Mousters, and the Ducktorate.  Depending if you plan to do electives and how many of them you do, you can earn the higher degrees like the Mousters or the Ducktorate.  From what I know now, I believe there are several types of roles you can participate in.  A new thing is the "role hopper" position, which switches you from one job to another every week.  For example, you would work in Attractions one week, then Foods the next.  The week after that you return to Attractions, and so on an so forth.  The role hoppers are on a six month program however, instead of the Fall, Spring and Summer semester break up.  Another thing I believe they implemented is that you can choose whether or not you wish to participate in a degree seeking curriculum which requires going to seminar, or you can choose just to work and partake in the Living and Earning portions of the program.

Disney pretty much tells you when to come to Orlando if you made it into the program and you are responsible for your mode of transportation there, whether it be by car, train, bus or plane.  Check-in is spread through several weeks, and by the last day of check in, there will be about 3000 or so CP's and International Programers residing at Vista Way.  All of the CP's are housed at Vista Way, and most of the International Cast are housed at the nicer, more costly Commons.  At Vista Way, you will be housed with either 3 or 5 other people.  If you have never lived with other people before, like myself, this will probably be one of the more challenging things of the College Program.

At VW (Vista Way), the accommodations are actually not too bad, with a tennis, basketball, sand volleyball, and racquetball courts, 2 pools and hot tubs and a Clubhouse with computer room.  The seminars for your "Learning" part of the program are held here, and as part of your rent, you are provided with bus transportation to just about every place on Disney property, as well as the Kissimee Wal-Mart.

I arrived on September 5th 1999 and spent the night at a hotel and checked into VW on the 6th.  I was eager to find out who my roommates were, but that would have to wait until I was done with all the checking in which took about an hour or so.  I found out that my job position was Out Door Foods at Disney-MGM Studios.  It said Fantasmic Food Cart, but later on I found out that I would not be working at Fantasmic at all, but rather the regular ODF, which covers all the popcorn carts, ice cream wagons, and other outdoor food vending.

I was lucky to be placed with 5 other roommates who were very easy to live with.  There was Mike Stringer from Illinois, who was 3708's (which was the room we lived in) lady's man, Tony Aiuto from Michigan, the newly graduated culinary artist, Justin Hanson from Oregon, the room's Marine, Ben Jados from Illinois, the heavy metal guitar player, and Victor Raquel, who just happened to also be from Hawaii.  Mike and Tony had a room, Ben and Justin shared, and Victor and myself had what was known as the "Hawaiian Room".  We all pretty much got along together, and didn't have any major aguments.  Unfortunately, Tony was unable to finish the program with us due to some unavoidable health issues with his father.  Pretty much Victor and I hung out the most from the people in my room, but once in awhile, all six of us would go hang out at a park or something.

I immediately became good friends with Eric Morimoto, who was on the program also from Hawaii.  We were pretty inseparable, and would be always making some type of trouble someplace.  Most of the people from Hawaii bonded and hung out together.  The people the made the group were Gwen, Amy, Andy, Cyn-D, Eric, Victor, Charlene, Gabe and myself.  We hung out together mainly I believe because we all had never really all lived away from home much less with total strangers.

The program was fun, and the learning experience was not all that hard, but the work was downright tough.  Most of us worked 10 or 12 hour days, with the extended park hours and a lot of holidays falling within our time there.  There was Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year.  Plus it being the crossover into the year 2000, the crowds were thick...really thick.  On New Year's Eve, 3 of the 4 Disney theme parks closed after a few hours of being opened, with the Magic Kingdom closing some 45 minutes after opening.  Traffic all around the property as well as miles of the I-4 were backed up for what seemed like most of the day.  It was not unusual for people to be 3 hours late for work that day.

Well, I did all my seminars, and worked hard at the job they had assigned me.  I did 4 electives, which earned me my Ducktorate Degree.  I also managed to get some phone numbers and talk with some people who were doing the sort of thing that I want to do.  I got to shadow at WDW Ride & Show Engineering, and see the ride vehicles for Superstar Limo, which will be a ride installed at Disney's California Adventure.  Once while at the Cast Preview for the Millennium Village at Epcot, I was sitting and talking with a nice lady and her family.  When I told her that I was a CP eager to get into Imagineering, you wouldn't believe what happened.  She told me that she was a secretary at WDI's Celebration office, and gave me some contact numbers for their internship department.

I would find that the College Program was the best thing that had happened to me at just about the right time.  I got to make some decisions in my life, and gain an even larger hunger for wanting to become an Imagineer.  I decided to stay in Florida, and continue schooling here.  At the end of the program, Victor had thought about returning here after finishing school in Hawaii.

If you have the chance and the want, I would recommend doing the WDW College Program.  It is fun and a memorable experience, and you can gain as much from the program as you want to.  Good Luck!