In today’s job world, an applicant must have years of experience before applying for any entry level position, but to get this experience, the applicant needs a job. It’s a vicious cycle that many graduates are facing after their senior year. I was not the fortunate one to have an internship waiting for me once I graduated. I was without a job for 5 months, and not even close to the career I wanted to be in. Here’s how being a participant in the Disney college program internships changed my life.
While in college, I applied for six Disney internships and got rejected for each one. I had one month left of the graduate grace period before corporate experience internships closed their door on me. I heard about the Disney college program from my mom who was told about it by her coworker whose son was in the program. I didn’t put much thought into applying because I figured Disney had already rejected me so many times, this wouldn’t be any different.
Within two hours of replying, I received an email informing me that they liked my background with Full Sail and wished for me to take their online survey. This survey is step two in the application process. After 24 hours, I received an email saying they wished to perform a phone interview. My phone interview lasted for about 15 minutes, and I felt confident that I answered all the questions correctly. Days later, I received my first email into becoming an official Disney college program participant. In that moment, I felt like my life was back on track, and I was going places.
One of the questions in the dorm application for Disney’s college program is to decide whether or not you wish to board with Disney. I opted yes because rent in Orlando in unaffordable for a single grad student to pay on their own. My second question was to list in order how many rooms I wished to have in the apartment resulting in the amount of people. I put one bedroom on the top of the list thinking I would only get one other person.
Instead, Disney threw a curve ball and crammed three girls into one room. At first, it was just me and one other girl for about a month, until our third roommate moved in. I’m the kind of person who craves privacy and alone time for the sake of destressing and getting my work done. But, adding a third person to a small room, makes the apartment feel a lot smaller especially when the third roommate cooks exotic food and refuses to clean. Thankfully, the third roommate moved out and it was back to spacious serenity.
I wished that someone told me what I was going to be getting into when I joined the program. I knew I would be working at the parks and wearing a costume that wouldn’t fit my small frame. I was not prepared for the long hours and early morning shifts where the sun didn’t rise until 3 hours after I woke up. I would come home crawling to my bed, calves throbbing, and feet screaming for relief. I was in so much pain, I had to take an Advil every night and a hot bath with Epson salt. There was one weekend where I worked 12 hour shifts for three days. I had one day in between those three where I worked six hours, and it was glorious to finally have time to sleep and eat a full meal.
I did not realize how many Disney college program participants there were until I attended the college program participant’s Starlit Splash at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. About 75% of the participants were at the event and the entire water park was filled. There was even a mosh pit of people by the DJ stand that was at least a hundred people. After a few months of working at Disney, you learn quickly who’s a college programmer and who’s not. The first give away is our name tag. If you see a college name where someone’s hometown should be, they are a college programmer. I saw a lot of name tags with college names on them while working at Disney. It made me want to find out how many college programmers there were working at the parks and resorts.
I am a naturally shy person who avoids conflict and social events. Working at Tower of Terror (nicknamed Tower by cast members) has been a huge honor for me because it’s a well-beloved attraction and has the best costumes on Disney property. I met the most charismatic, adventurous, caring, and honest people by working at Tower. We made a family out of each other and always stick up for one another.
We tended to call people who had much knowledge, bravery, and admiration our Tower mothers because they took care of us college programmers when no one else would. I have never been on some many outings, brunch meetings, park excursions, and adventures with friends in my entire experience in high school or college. What’s great to know is that even when our program ends, we’ve made life long connections and friends who will always be down to play at the parks and party the night away.
Trying to summarize my seven-month experience is proving to be a challenge because I have so many great memories from my time in the Disney college program. I learned a lot about customer service and how to be confident with my mindset, body, and lifestyle. I made connections and friends with people from across the country and the world. I learned what it’s like to be completely exhausted and one shift away from total delirium. But, working for Disney has by far been my best experience in the real world.
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