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A Brief Introduction to the
So what exactly is the Walt Disney World
College Program? Quick answer is "whatever you want it to be."
A better answer is this: the College Program is a paid internship at the
Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
There are two types of programs available
for you: Spring/Fall semester-length and Spring/Fall "Advantage."
Advantage means that you will work one of your spring or fall semesters
PLUS all or the majority of the summer, so you are looking at 8 months
at the Happiest Place on Earth rather than 5. Each program has the same
application procedure. First, you will find an information session on
the College Program- these are held on college campuses all over the country,
so this shouldn't be a hard thing for you to do. After you find one that
fits your schedule, fill out the online application for the program, then
attend the information session. After you go to the session, you will
have an interview either that night or the next day (the interview time
date depends on whether or not you are interviewing at your school or
on another campus). When you complete your interview, sit back and wait
for your decision...this process could take as little as a week or as
long as four weeks!
The program is best divided into three components: Living,
Learning, and Earning. No, this is not my genius idea- Disney came up
with it. Go figure. Anyway, for your approval I humbly submit information
about the aforementioned sections:
LIVING
You will live with other members of the College
Program in one of two apartment complexes, Vista Way and Chatham Square.
These complexes have fully furnished apartments, as well as pools, tennis
courts, computer labs, etc. Transportation is available for you, so don't
worry if you don't have a car! As for living arrangements, you will have
an apartment with one to seven roomates. If you are under twenty-one,
you will live in what's called a "wellness apartment." These
apartments are TOTALLY substance free (as in, you will get kicked out
for even having cooking wine in your apartment, or so my recruiter said.)
Over twenty-one can live in the wellness apartments but don't have to,
as they are of legal age to drink. Rent is deducted from your paycheck,
so make sure you work enough in a week to pay your share of the rent!
LEARNING
This component has "kinda sorta"
become optional. The orginal program had people taking classes whether
they wanted to or not. Now you don't have to do this portion, although
most people recieving academic credit for the internship do take at least
one class. If you are a nerd like myself (see, I can admit it!) even if
you don't have to take classes you will. Disney offers major-related courses
like Hospitality Management, Human Resources, and Communications, but
also offer more interdisciplinary classes like the ExpEARiential Learning
course and the Disney Practicum (which from what I've been told is similar
in nature to the old mandatory seminar series). Disney encourages you
to bring a computer, so I would do that if I were you. Only have a desktop?
Fear not, for Disney has what are called Centers of Excellence. The "CoEs"
have computer labs available for your use, not to mention a lot of career
advancing and enhancing tools for you to peruse when and if you have time.
For any course you take, you will have homework.
I don't as of yet know how much homework we'll have, but I know that there
is some, and it ranges depending on the intensity and subject of your
class.
EARNING
Here's the sobering truth: internships don't
pay well at Disney or any other company. Most internships aren't paid,
so the fact that you are making anything should sound good to you.
Other sobering truth: as an intern, you are the designated grunt and gopher.
Attractive role, isn't it? Be it Disney or anywhere else, don't expect
special treatment as an intern- your are a low priority on the corporate
totem poll. As a College Program cast member you will work long hours
and odd schedules, and get paid little for it. Of course that sounds bad,
but you could also be working long hours and have low pay at your local
fast-food joint, or spend a summer stuffing envelopes or sorting stamps.
You will be working at Disney- that is a perk in and of itself. Other
perks include free admission to parks, discounted tickets to other attractions,
merchandise discounts, etc. For those of you from the Northeast, you will
have a 70-80 degree Christmas Day while your friends are freezing their
butts off at home. And you will hang out with people from all over the
country in a nicely furnished apartment with 24 hour security. Kind of
makes up for the low pay and odd schedules, don't you think?
Now that you know the reality, here's the
cool stuff. You won't necessarily be stuffing envelopes in Disney World.
You might be stuffing bags of popcorn, but that's cooler than envelopes
and you don't get tounge papercuts. While you are at Disney you will work
in one or more of several different areas: transportation, housekeeping,
operations, custodial, lifeguarding, vacation planner, merchandise, and
hospitality just to name a few. There's a neat role called "role
hopper" that you can also have as your job- this means you will do
several different jobs during your Disney "career." Basically,
one day you could be working at Cosmic Ray's restaurant (the largest quick-service
food restaurant in the country, by the way) and the next selling balloons
at Epcot. It totally depends on where and what you get trained to do at
Disney, but I think that's kind of a cool position to have. Pretty much
anything you do will put you in contact with a LOT of guests, so be ready
to smile!
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