Professional Internships?

[emily94]

Hi all! I am thinking about applying for a professional internship with Disney and I would love to hear your experiences with applying and working Would love to know what you did and where you worked (DL, WDW, other?) Thanks in advance!

 

[mobish]

Hi all! I am thinking about applying for a professional internship with Disney and I would love to hear your experiences with applying and working Would love to know what you did and where you worked (DL, WDW, other?) Thanks in advance!

My daughter did the Fairy Tale Weddings PI this year. I can tell you the competition is brutal. Your best chance is to do the College Program first, very few applicants get a PI without it. Once you are in the College Program you need to network at every opportunity with managers in the areas that interest you. There are scheduled networking events but you also need to ask your current managers for introductions. It is almost a full time job to position yourself but definitely worth it. My daughter loved every minute of her internship.

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

My daughter did the Fairy Tale Weddings PI this year. I can tell you the competition is brutal. Your best chance is to do the College Program first, very few applicants get a PI without it. Once you are in the College Program you need to network at every opportunity with managers in the areas that interest you. There are scheduled networking events but you also need to ask your current managers for introductions. It is almost a full time job to position yourself but definitely worth it. My daughter loved every minute of her internship.

Subscribing. This is good information.

 

[emily94]

My daughter did the Fairy Tale Weddings PI this year. I can tell you the competition is brutal. Your best chance is to do the College Program first, very few applicants get a PI without it. Once you are in the College Program you need to network at every opportunity with managers in the areas that interest you. There are scheduled networking events but you also need to ask your current managers for introductions. It is almost a full time job to position yourself but definitely worth it. My daughter loved every minute of her internship.

Thanks! This is great info, I'm sure she had an amazing time working in Weddings Did she do it during a summer or a semester?

 

[mobish]

Thanks! This is great info, I'm sure she had an amazing time working in Weddings Did she do it during a summer or a semester?

PIs are all 6 months (actually a few weeks short of 6 months) long. And after another round of stiff competition it did lead to a full time position in Celebration.

 

[netgirl614]

Not all pis are six months long. I did two: one from mid August to mid December and one from mid January to mid May. So about 4 months each. Depends on the role. Mine were both in industrial engineering.

 

[Mahwah]

My daughter did the Fairy Tale Weddings PI this year. I can tell you the competition is brutal. Your best chance is to do the College Program first, very few applicants get a PI without it. Once you are in the College Program you need to network at every opportunity with managers in the areas that interest you. There are scheduled networking events but you also need to ask your current managers for introductions. It is almost a full time job to position yourself but definitely worth it. My daughter loved every minute of her internship.

Hi, could you please tell me a little bit of what your daughter did during her PI internship with the Fairy Tale Weddings? My daughter finished up the college program last January and remained on as a seasonal cast member. She recently went back to her university, but plans on returning to Disney to do a PI internship,hoping to work in their Fairy Tale Wedding department. She is going to school for resort & hospitality management, concentration on event planning. She has also done an internship as a wedding planner.

 

[mobish]

Hi, could you please tell me a little bit of what your daughter did during her PI internship with the Fairy Tale Weddings? My daughter finished up the college program last January and remained on as a seasonal cast member. She recently went back to her university, but plans on returning to Disney to do a PI internship,hoping to work in their Fairy Tale Wedding department. She is going to school for resort & hospitality management, concentration on event planning. She has also done an internship as a wedding planner.

It is incredibly competitive ( they took 6 out of 3000 applications) but sounds like she is a great fit. My recommendation is that she also apply for a CP as a backup that way if she doesn't get it the first time she can use the CP time to network and develop her connections. The PI was a combination of working the events (menu tastings, rehearsals ceremonies and receptions), back office and covering Francs at the wedding pavilion. It was a great experience but the draw back to this particular PI is that no one ever leaves this department so it doesn't necessarily lead to a full time position if that's what she wants. Best of luck to your daughter! Happy to answer questions if you have more.

 

[Mahwah]

It is incredibly competitive ( they took 6 out of 3000 applications) but sounds like she is a great fit. My recommendation is that she also apply for a CP as a backup that way if she doesn't get it the first time she can use the CP time to network and develop her connections. The PI was a combination of working the events (menu tastings, rehearsals ceremonies and receptions), back office and covering Francs at the wedding pavilion. It was a great experience but the draw back to this particular PI is that no one ever leaves this department so it doesn't necessarily lead to a full time position if that's what she wants. Best of luck to your daughter! Happy to answer questions if you have more.

Thank you so much for getting back to me. Yes, I understand it is VERY COMPETITIVE! She applied for the PI while doing her Disney College Program and was called back I believe 3 or 4 for additional interviews. She even made it to the top 25 (might have been less than that) but didn't make it all the way through. She was ok with that. She was just honored to make it as far as she did. They really liked her, but she was still finishing up her college program...only 20 years old and not a lot of experience. She was told to apply again because the next time she would most likely get it. I am sure its a great job and no one leaves their position unless they retire! lol Only time will tell!

 

[mobish]

What I failed to mention was that it took two tries to get it. The first time she made it through 3 rounds of interviews, the second time there seemed to be less layers so I assume they keep those applicants in the mix. Good luck to her, I'm sure the second time will be the charm!