Bad experiences in CP?

[digsbyloft]

I'm seriously looking into applying for CP next fall, but I like to do thorough research before jumping in to anything, so I want to here your stories on any bad experiences that you or someone you know had.
We all know nothing can be perfect, not even CP, so I'm not really looking for answers like "If you follow all the rules you'll be fine" but rather actual details.
Thanks guys!

 

[Joanna71985]

I'm seriously looking into applying for CP next fall, but I like to do thorough research before jumping in to anything, so I want to here your stories on any bad experiences that you or someone you know had.
We all know nothing can be perfect, not even CP, so I'm not really looking for answers like "If you follow all the rules you'll be fine" but rather actual details.
Thanks guys!

For me, I really didn't have bad experiences on my CPs. Yes, the hours could be long at times. Yes, the transportation wasn't the best. However- I loved meeting new people, getting into the parks all the time, the housing events.

 

[iwish81792]

The only negative anyone really encountered in my area was homesickness. We lost a few people on my program just because they were so young and it was the first time they were away from home. The buses can be unreliable at times as well, but you get used to leaving an hour earlier than you really need to, just in case. I have nothing but praise for my program. I just got home a week ago and I got seasonal status so I can go back whenever I want.

 

[MrsSparrow..]

If you do a search on these boards, you will find a lot of people who had mixed or bad experiences.

I had an amazing time and I literally abided by 100% of the rules. If I broke one and got fired, I would have been deported and it would have been extremely unlikely I'd ever work in the US again, so there was no way I was risking that. So I put partying aside for a while.

I won't lie, I did have some bad experiences. I worked long and unsociable hours. I was rarely able to go to House of Blues or any other evening events because I only worked evening shifts (not through choice!). Usually I'd finish around 2am and then it would take at least another hour to get home on the bus. Some nights I finished at 4-5am (I worked in Merch at Magic Kingdom).

Sometimes at work you don't want to be there at all - it becomes like a "normal job". Something I thought would never happen to me at Disney, but it isn't always magical. Having to smile throughout a 12 hour shift is not easy!

The managers (depending on location) are hit and miss - some you like, some you don't. I was from a big area so we had lots of managers and supervisors - some of which I loved and some of them I could care less for.

My friends seemed to always have different days off to me, and my requests for days off were always denied. My work location had a FB group that enabled people to give away and trade shifts, however, with my terrible work hours it was sometimes difficult to persuade someone to take a 12 hour shift at 4am!

The low point of my experience was towards the end. It was about 2am and I realised I had lost my cell phone (my international one that I used to keep in touch with family and friends back home) somewhere in a stock room or in the break room. Having searched high and low, I rang the mobile phone and someone declined the call. The phone was not turned in and it had clearly been stolen by a Disney CM. I was really furious and more angry that co-workers in superior positions could not find out the procedure for employee lost phones. Instead I just pursued the procedure for when guests lost them. The most upsetting thought was that someone that worked for Disney, and may have loved Disney like I do, had stolen my phone. It was heartbreaking!

The Disney CP (admittedly I'm an ICP but there are not many differences!) for me was all about work hard, play hard. I had some negatives (the biggest one of all was being separated from my boyfriend by the Atlantic) however, the positives of the experience dwarf the bad experiences. I knew I was going to have to work long hours, but did it really tarnish my Disney experience? Not at all.

I know you wanted negative experiences only, but the people I know who had negative experiences had them because they were either ill-prepared before they went and didn't have a clue what they were getting into, or they had personal issues going on at home.

Good-luck with your decision!

 

[khancock]

the people I know who had negative experiences had them because they were either ill-prepared before they went and didn't have a clue what they were getting into, or they had personal issues going on at home.

This is SO true!

Whenever you come across someone who had a bad experience, if you start peeling away the layers of the onion (to borrow a term from Lou Mongello), it always comes down to those reasons.

 

[BadDad]

My S's bad experience was with the initial good of guys he was paired up with. Too immature. Many of them spent 1 semester in college and then applied. They still had the h.s. mentality.

When he turned 21 (he was the oldest in his wellness apt) he switched to a non-wellness apt (alcohol, 21+) and better experience. Sure there was beer and wine in the frig but the apt was clean, bathrooms washed, garbage our, and everyone respected each other.

If you or your future-CP is 21, go non-wellness. Age has a better immaturity factor than alcohol.

 

[Ravenscroft]

I got seasonal status so I can go back whenever I want.

Okay, I'm curious. What exactly is seasonal status and how do you achieve it?

 

[Joanna71985]

Okay, I'm curious. What exactly is seasonal status and how do you achieve it?

Seasonal is when you work 150 hours a year at Disney. Many seasonal CMs live out of state and go to Disney to work during holidays, summer, ect. If you want to go seasonal after your CP ends, make sure to keep your record card clean

 

[Ravenscroft]

Seasonal is when you work 150 hours a year at Disney. Many seasonal CMs live out of state and go to Disney to work during holidays, summer, ect. If you want to go seasonal after your CP ends, make sure to keep your record card clean

Cool! Thanks

 

[Wishes Count]

Immaturity has a lot to do with why people have a bad experience. Like others had said, I had roommates who had trouble living on their own for the first time and could not adjust.

Depending on your role you may work more or less hours than your roommates. When I worked front desk I was almost never scheduled for 40 per week, but something like 32-36 whatever the minimum was. And in that role it is difficult to pick up shifts to try to make more money. Like if you do merchandise you can pick up a shift at any merchandise location. But my one roommate did quick service food and beverage at MK and for several weeks was working 10-12 hours per day and getting like 65 hours a week. She even worked at a seasonal location so she had to work at one place in the morning. Go on break and change costumes and work at the other location in the afternoon.


On my first program two of our roommates where really nasty to the rest of us and would talk behind our backs, one of their cars got keyed (I have no idea if a roommate did it or if someone random did) and they accused us. My room-roommate and I had to leave the apartment and be split up 3 weeks before the end of the program. Housing treated us really unfairly and said we had until 4pm to move, at 1pm. I have a disability and had no one to help me move so I told them I could not do it in that amount of time. Surprisingly the management company was more accommodating than Disney's employees were. I later went and complained to the person in charge of housing about the way I was treated. I was really mad and felt like it had almost ruined the experience for me but I got over it and returned for another program.


Also don't get sick. Disney won't be accommodating or understanding if you have something serious happen. My roommate did get the option to self term after she had to have emergency gallbladder surgery, but then housing called and was like "Okay is so and so gone we are changing the locks" We tried to explain that she was IN THE HOSPITAL and could not move out and they said it was okay. Then the next day they came to check to see if she was gone. They could have been more understanding and give her at least a day or two after being discharged from having surgery!