This thread has gotten way off track, but I'll post my own CP experiences, since that was not exactly how my program went. I'm hesitant to recommend the CP to others, even though my experience was not the best. I think everyone should know all sides before they cart off to Florida. Ultimately doing the CP helped me get two PIs and I hope a future career with Disney, but it's not for everyone.
Firstly, I had no issues doing hard work. I worked at Sonic all through high school and then in child care with toddlers, so retail at Disney, when I was actually doing retail, was a breeze. I spent most of my time, unfortunately, in a midway game box with a microphone that rarely worked. So I was usually yelling at people. I gained some positives from it, like I don't mind a microphone now and I'm more outgoing from having to listen to my voice pumped through speakers saying really dumb spiels. But the rotation was so mismanaged, I would be out in the sweatboxes, pretty much, ALL day. Breaks were frequently 2 hours late because the rotation was off if one person called in, and someone always did. There was one game in particular where it was "Bad Show" to use a picker to pick up the balls the guests threw, so you had to crawl around on hands and knees over and over. I had bruises on my knees a lot, and if I wore shorts, there were little bugs in the carpet that would bite too.
Those days were definitely hard, and there were a few times I nearly quit. The first time was when I missed a training because I was stuck out on the games and despite telling them when they put me out there and repeatedly as it kept getting closer, my manager yelled at me for not letting anyone know I needed off. He had one of those, "It's everyone else's fault but mine" attitudes, and there were a couple of times, like when he parked a pargo and asked me to clean up all the dirty tissues and rags that had been left in it, rather than picking them up himself on his way in, that I just was like, really? You're a manager at Disney?
I don't mind hard work and I did my very best to give the best service and be as knowledgable and positive as I could, but sometimes I was downright disrespected as a CP, by the management and by the other cast members. It was a VASTLY different experience from my PI, where my managers encouraged me to network, vouched for me, would give me references, and really cared about my professional development. You get none of that as a CP, and people need to know that, because especially on these forums, people think that's going to happen, and it doesn't. I did have three managers I LOVED and that were fantastic, and my coordinators were fabulous people. Generally my experiences were very positive, but the negatives I did have weren't something to just brush off as "oh, welcome to the real world, sweetie."
Also, regarding money, I was poor poor poor my entire program, and not because I spent my money like crazy. I was scheduled around 32 hours a week, usually just 30. Five six-hour shifts a week. I rarely ever had more than 32, 36 was exciting. My shifts were always scheduled during the day, like 12-6, so it was hard to pick up any other shifts, if they were even available. At minimum wage, after rent and everything else, that left usually $50-70 a week to buy groceries, gas, pay for laundry, and anything else I needed. That's really not much, especially with a tank of gas being at least $40. I certainly wasn't malnourished, but I had very little money for anything else.
Some people have fabulous CPs, and some people don't. It all depends on your role, location, management. Just don't write off those who may have had legitimately difficult experiences as being lazy and irresponsible. Granted a lot of people do go down thinking it's going to be a paid vacation, and it isn't. But not everyone looks at the programs that way.
the college board is my favorite! 
