Beware the Disney College Program
In 2014, my life changed when I was accepted into the Disney College Program. I was prepared to say no, but they offered me a position I had really wanted, concierge at one of their resorts, so I accepted the offer and moved to Florida.
The program was life changing indeed, but in only negative ways. To begin, Disney does not empower their employees at all. Training is a maximum of five days and then you are left to largely your own devices but with no power to fix most of the problems you encounter. If someone even wanted two double beds instead of a king, I was not even allowed to change the room myself, instead I had to dial the rooms control team, and very often they would not accept my request, causing the front desk agents, who were already ill prepared, to face the guest’s anger head on. In almost every situation, a manager or supervisor had to be called, and then they doled out enormously stupid amounts of compensation to deal with simple problems. A guest upset that the splash park at the pool was closed for construction was given six free tickets to a water park, for example.
The environment at work is extremely hostile and coworkers regularly ratted each other out on stupid violations. Is he wearing the right type of undershirt? Is he wearing a fragrance that could be subjectively be perceived as too strong? Regularly we were ratted out to managers or supervisors who would not even tell us what we had done until the end of the day, having let us stupidly walk around the entire day at work for them. Although once I was almost sent home immediately for having a cowlick in my hair, but I was permitted to return to work after washing my hair in the sink.
I knew the bartender at the bar at the hotel. So one night after work I changed out of costume and went to have a drink, which I was told I was told I was permitted to do. But when I returned to work the next day, everyone was shocked to see me. Word had already gotten out that I had been fired for coming back to work in costume completely intoxicated from a night of drinking at the bar. Statements from other colleagues, including the bartender who told them honestly that I had only been served one drink, cleared me that day, but the worst was yet to come.
In addition, about a month and a half after my program started, we were told our positions were not secure, and random amounts of us (after I left, it turned out nearly all of us) would be recast in other less desirable positions within the resort. Most I knew were quietly shuffled into quick service food and beverage with several people going to work at popcorn carts. Although I was a French literature major, many of my coworkers were hospitality or hotel management majors who believed this would be the start of their careers, and instead they were told to either accept the position being offered to them, or leave the company. But let me get on to why I left.
I have struggled with mental illness my entire life, mainly affective disorders, and I am being treated for them and was and am taking medication for them. But my roommate found my medication and alerted the housing authorities. I was tracked down with phone calls and guards at my door to take me to what amounted to interrogations until I finally came clean that the medication was mine and I was taking it.
I was told I had 36 hours to leave my apartment. I was too sick to be away from home, I didn’t belong in Florida, and I should return home and seek further treatment. Usually 24 hours is the notice allowed, but since I was found late in the day I was given an extra 12. I had 36 hours to even find a roof to put over my head. Having worked for sub-minimum wage for the past two months, with most of the money going to pay for my room and being left with little more than to eat with, I had to scramble to even find shelter. I thought for a moment that I would have to live out of my car. Before I could leave though, I had to consult with a psychiatrist and I was taken by paid car to an office in Orlando where he said I was mentally stable enough to be released into my own care.
The program did have one benefit, but only really because I was given such a good position, and that was that I was able to find another job with an infinitely better hotel company which has supported me and allowed me to grow in the last 9 months or so. But others I knew at the program were not so lucky. One returned home to finish his studies, and he did, but his only work experience was running attractions in Magic Kingdom. He currently works at a fast food restaurant. The experience may sound fun and rewarding, but the experience is really only good for putting off the real world. The program will not prepare you for the rigors of your career, and for many, running attractions or stocking shelves in a merchandise shop was just not enough when they returned home to find permanent work. I continue to live in central Florida, and many of the people I know who work for Disney often complain of similar work environments, lack of fair pay, and inability to move up, but many also continue to work for the company because they were blinded by their love for it which usually has been with them since childhood.
If you are considering the program, I suggest you see it for what it really is, which is a way to put off life for a semester or two. Familial monetary support is required, and it gives no real work experience for careers to come. The work environment is hostile and management and training are deplorable, and I would seek out internships at other more supportive companies before ever considering this program again.
