Behind the Magic: What Students Really Think About the Disney College Program
I was less than three days into my Disney College Program when reality knocked me on my rear — literally. I was walking backwards, as required by my position, “pixie-dusting” lap bars and smiling at guests as they set sail to Neverland on Peter Pan’s Flight. While directing guests to watch their step, I failed to do the same.
In a sense, this anecdote defines the Disney College Program. Bright-eyed students roll up in their favorite Mickey tees, ready to spend the next four to seven months of their lives eating churros and riding roller coasters, only to realize that what they signed up for was, in fact, work. Yes, the Most Magical Place on Earth is your backyard, but it’s your job to make sure the lawn gets mowed.
Going into the Disney College Program, many students expect a seven month vacation. In some ways, that is what you get. Cast members are treated to the occasional discount on food and merchandise as well as free admissions to the parks for yourself — tell that to the people that you haven’t talked to in years, yet they still hit you up for tickets. It looks like a great deal to most students because it is.
Beyond the obvious perks, the experience of working in the parks is something that a lot of participants sought after because someone else told them about the program. For me, it was my older sister who had done the program herself. For my roommate Alexis Harris, it was a childhood friend with an interest in the program. For my friend Yaly Gonzalez, it was an older friend who told her that it was the best way to get an “in” with the company.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I have had a huge passion for Disney,” said Gonzalez, an animation student at Atlantic University in Puerto Rico. “I have always wanted to work in Disney Animation, so when I was told by older friends that if you do the College Program, you are more likely to get into a Professional Internship, I decided to apply.”
To clarify, Disney Professional Internships fall under the same “Disney Internships and Programs” banner that the Disney College Program does, but these roles are offered in various other areas of the company from Disney Parks to Lucasfilm to Pixar to Disney Television Animation to ABC Studios to Marvel Entertainment, among others. Though most of the corporate-based internships do not have this requirement, almost every internship centered on the parks requires previous experience working at either Walt Disney World or Disneyland, and there are even some that require that experience to be prior participation in the Disney College Program.
Of all of the former coworkers I discussed the College Program with, a solid two-thirds indicated that a desire to work for Disney long-term influenced their decision to apply to the program. Alternatively, only my former coworker Sarah Livelli said that the program was exactly what she expected: “truly magical.”
Livelli is a bonafide Disney princess herself — she’s done two programs before, and she is currently on her third. The irony of her success at Disney is that she truly did not believe that she would get in.
“I applied on a whim not thinking anything of it,” said Livelli. “I really didn’t think I would end up getting in just because I applied once before and immediately got denied. I tried again, and ended up being the best decision of my life.”
Livelli’s success does bring one question to mind: what about the participants who don’t love their experience? Surely, there must be someone out there who thinks of the program as less than magical. Harris said that it is six to one, half dozen to the other; Disney is as magical as people say, but that does not mean that it’s not a job.
“When I was preparing for the program, I watched a ton of DCP vloggers on YouTube,” said Harris. “In some aspects, it turned out to be the same as the videos. I made good friends, rode tons of rides, went to events, and tooks hundreds of cute pictures. What the videos didn’t show was the intensity of working in Disney. The actual job, regardless of your role, is physically and mentally demanding and difficult. I think in general, I expected to like my job more than I did.”
Harris’s words ring true for most participants. While it would be natural to assume the worst of a company like Disney, the truth rests somewhere in the middle. Is everything magical? No. Is everything horrible? Also no.
“When people visit Disney, they forget that the cast members are at work and think that they are robots with no feelings,” said Tori Dragotti, one of my former College Program coworkers. “I can’t even remember all the times I’ve cried at work. The cast members I worked with truly helped the experience and made it worse at all of the same time. I fell in love with all of them and call them my family.”
What people fail to take into account when considering the recreation side of a College Program is that there is a significant customer service aspect to any role at Disney.
“You do so much work and rarely get praise for doing your job,” said Kate Nichols, a former attractions CP. “One time, I had a family of six come up to me at Pooh Greeter and try to use their FastPass early. Their FastPass was for 8:30 PM, and it was around 12:30 PM. Our StandBy wait time was abnormally high at about 45 minutes. Normally, if our wait time is short, I would just let the group go early, which is technically breaking the rules, but it makes the guests happy, and that’s the ultimate goal.”
“Because of the long StandBy wait time, however, I told them they were too early for their FastPass, and they couldn’t come in now. They got very angry and requested to speak to my manager, so I called for a coordinator, who tried to calm the family down and eventually just let them go through FastPass early. In addition, she gave them a Multiple Experience Pass, which can be used at any attraction in the park. My coordinator was annoyed that I called them for something so simple, and she told me to be more accommodating to guests, then she walked away. It was just so upsetting that I tried to do my job correctly, and I got yelled at for it.”
These negative experiences aren’t uncommon; I recall a particular instance at Peter Pan’s Flight that was incredibly similar to Nichols’s experiences. I was at greeter during the Happily Ever Fireworks display when a family of five tried to rush past me into the FastPass line. When I called them on it, the father flashed me his platinum Disney credit card as if that meant he was above the rules. My coordinator was called, but he ultimately let the man, who had caused my other coworker to cry, through the line. Backstage, he apologized to me, but it was a damaging experience to feel like your leadership doesn’t have your back.
There is, however, a reason for the customer service focus. When you work at Disney, there is a set of overarching concepts that guide how cast members are to conduct themselves, called the Four Keys. The Four Keys are Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency, prioritized in that order.
Safety, of course, involves making sure we provide a healthy and safety-conscious environment; this is the most important, and the only time cast members are allowed to act in what could be seen as a discourteous manner. Courtesy means what it sounds like it means; you are there to provide a magical experience for guests, so put them first. Show refers to maintaining Disney magic, so you speak in your area’s vernacular and ensure character integrity. For example, I once got in trouble for saying Peter Pan was on break when I was supposed to say he returned to Neverland. Efficiency basically means serving as many guests as possible as quickly as possible, whether you work in quick service or attractions.
Because safety is top priority, there is a level of comfort for guests in that they know Disney will take care of them, but for cast members, it can go either way.
“On the day before New Year’s Eve, I had severe food poisoning and was running back and forth from the bathroom every hour,” said Dragotti. “At one point, I could barely stand. One of the coordinators told a leader that I left my position without telling anyone which is not true; I had told that coordinator that I needed a 103, Disney for ‘bathroom break,’ imminently, and she told me it was okay. But in my leader’s eyes, I left my position unattended and got sent home with a reprimand.”
Dragotti’s experience isn’t necessarily the norm. I had an experience where I went to work with a double ear infection. I tried my hardest to make it through the day in the 90 degree Orlando heat while running a fever, but one of my coordinators noticed I was off. As a result, he worked with my leaders and managed to get me an early release from my shift.
Even through the hard times, most CPs speak positively about their experiences. Admittedly, I can look back on my program and see more positives than negatives, despite being miserable while I was there. Each CP has a roster of magic moments either than they made themselves or witnessed.
“I met a family with a child who had special needs, and this child never wanted to be hugged, but I was able to make the most amazing magic for them on their vacation, and he wanted to give me a hug,” said Livelli. “The mother cried and the child just spent a good portion of me talking to them just holding on to me. It was truly amazing.”
“Leigh Allen Baker, who played Amy Duncan on Good Luck Charlie, had a conversation with me when I was at Pooh Greeter,” said Nichols. “My mom traveled a lot for work when I was younger, so I watched the show for her motherly advice. I told her this and she almost cried. I think we made each other feel special. She rode Pooh, then came out and said ‘Let my husband take some pics of us, then I’ll post them on Instagram so you can see them.’ I don’t think anything in my life will beat that, it was absolutely incredible.”
Gonzalez, who speaks Japanese, said her favorite experience on the program was making magic for foreign guests. She would take a box with a cupcake or another kind of treat and present it to guests as Mickey’s magic box, and they would repeat her magic words to open it. Gonzalez said these moments were magical not because of what she did but because of how the guests reacted.
“It was beautiful to see how they lit up when they found someone who spoke their language,” said Gonzalez. She went on to say that it was the guests who inspired her to return for a second program after the program we shared.
When it comes time to go home, most CPs suffer from what is nicknamed “Disney Depression.” Fellow fall 2018 CP Ben Briselden explained that the hardest part for him was leaving behind “amazing connections you make from around the world,” a sentiment echoed throughout the conversations I had with my former coworkers.
Roughly nine months after our program ended, our Fantasyland family suffered a horrible loss. Fellow fall 2018 CP, Shannon Lowden, tragically passed away in a car accident in her home country of Australia.
“What they don’t tell you about this program is that when one of them passes away so does a part of you,” said Dragotti. “You can’t go pay your respect at the funeral because they are in a different country. It’s so hard, but the memories [we] made happy or sad made [my program] worth it.”
Though the magic can never be recaptured and we can never go back to that magical place where we were all working together, our memories are enough to remind us that the College Program can be a worthwhile experience if one is willing to go in with eyes wide open.
To any students considering participating in this program, my former coworkers had these words of wisdom:
“Be open-minded and ready to learn,” said Briselden.
“Absolutely do it,” said Nichols. “Go with your gut, and if it feels like the right time do it, then just do it.”
“Don’t ever waste a second of it as you will miss everything about it very dearly,” said Berk Koptur, an international CP who also worked at Peter Pan’s Flight. “You don’t quite realize how fortunate you are to be working there until it’s time for you to actually leave.”
“Be yourself, but be the best version of yourself,” said Livelli. “Make magic no matter what, and always, always, always follow your heart.”
The Disney College Program is not for everyone, but it can be an invaluable opportunity if one is willing to be realistic about their expectations and put the work in. After all, you may be flipping burgers, but you would be flipping burgers in the Most Magical Place on Earth.
