Disney College Program, questions and you personal experience

[mgutierrez93]

I got accepted to the Disney College Program for this upcoming Spring2014, I believe it will benefit me on my resume and it just sounds awesome to say "OH YEA I've worked at Disney" I got Main-Entrance, which I have experience working in an arena, for $7.79 hr.

Did you work Main-Entrance? How was a typical day for you? How much money did you get left over after the apartment deduction?

What I already do not particular enjoy is the HOUSING. I am a VERY private person<<< I like having my own room ( I live in a single apartment at the moment) and I wanted to know...
can I request a single room for my own? I do not mind sharing the apartment but I do mind sharing a bedroom.

How are the buses like? (I am flying from TX so I cannot take my car).

Would I really make acquaintances? I tend to be a reserve person and I cannot seem to relate to girls my age. (I am under 21, 20 to be exact). Being the youngest of my siblings AND my entire family and friends I have always encountered older people and I have had bad experiences with the younger crowd

Any advice? What you wish you would have done and wish you knew prior to going?

IS IT WORTH GOING?

 

[tobyornottoby]

I will be doing my first DCP this spring as a MEO like you, so my answers are based on research.
In general, CPs have been making anywhere from $100-$200 a week after rent depending on their spending habits and budget control. Most jobs will be around $7.79 range, so you can expect to make that range above, and in the higher ends if you work long hours.
I don't believe there is an option to just stay with yourself. The closest thing is having a one-bedroom apartment, where you will be rooming with one other person. While I do not know the reasons for your shy personality, I would still go through with this. Developing social skills will be extremely beneficial for your future, especially when you start working. There will be LOTS of people that are your age or older. I think the DCP would be an excellent place to break out of that shell!

 

[Hollsey]

I got accepted to the Disney College Program for this upcoming Spring2014, I believe it will benefit me on my resume and it just sounds awesome to say "OH YEA I've worked at Disney" I got Main-Entrance, which I have experience working in an arena, for $7.79 hr.

Did you work Main-Entrance? How was a typical day for you? How much money did you get left over after the apartment deduction?

What I already do not particular enjoy is the HOUSING. I am a VERY private person<<< I like having my own room ( I live in a single apartment at the moment) and I wanted to know...
can I request a single room for my own? I do not mind sharing the apartment but I do mind sharing a bedroom.

How are the buses like? (I am flying from TX so I cannot take my car).

Would I really make acquaintances? I tend to be a reserve person and I cannot seem to relate to girls my age. (I am under 21, 20 to be exact). Being the youngest of my siblings AND my entire family and friends I have always encountered older people and I have had bad experiences with the younger crowd

Any advice? What you wish you would have done and wish you knew prior to going?

IS IT WORTH GOING?

I can't answer questions about Main Entrance because I only know one person who has been trained on Main Entrance, but she works PAC (Parade and Audience Control) now instead.

But I can confirm there is no way of having your own bedroom, unfortunately. The closest you'll get is if your immediate roommate moves out and it takes a while to fill her spot (it happened to me on my last program, and it has happened again during this program, but in a different room of my apartment).

As someone who had terrible social skills before my last CP, I want you to have confidence in yourself about making friends! I was super, super terribly shy, and Disney is the perfect place to help you gain more confidence in your ability to talk to other people and make a lot of friends. I became really, really close with my coworkers on my last Program, and on this program I'm super close to my roommates AND my coworkers, as well as a couple of people I've met at Traditions and orientation for the park I work at. The fun part about doing the DCP is that it's really easy to make friends because everyone has the same common interest: DISNEY!

Keep your chin up! You're going to grow so much in this program, and it'll be the best experience of your life! If you're really concerned about who you're going to live with, definitely go on the various Facebook groups and try to find a gal interested in living in a one or two bedroom apartment. That's what I would do, at least.

 

[NHSchool2012]

You'll definitely make friends. With work and living and everything Housing puts on, it'll be so easy to make friends. When I went for my CP I was deadset on getting a 1br because I was so scared of living with other people. I ended up getting a 3br and I loved it. It was amazing. I didn't like a couple of my roommates but the good part about that is you really don't see them unless you want to because of such differing schedules and everything. Think of it this way. If you have a 3br and don't like 2 of your roommates, you still have 3 more to hang out with. If you get a 1br and don't like her, you're screwed. And at work you'll make friends so easily, one of my friends was MEO and she loved it so much and made tons of friends, it's a big CP placement area so you'll meet a lot of kids with you.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

it's a big CP placement area so you'll meet a lot of kids with you.

Depends where you are. My CP was at AK Main Entrance Turnstiles. There were 5 CPs, and pretty much everyone else was a retiree. Needless to say, I did not spend much time hanging out with co-workers after work. The work itself was kinda boring, but not at all difficult. When I was there, some of the Main Entrance cast were scheduled each day for Parade Audience Control ... most of the full time folks didn't like doing that, so they'd ask me if I wanted to trade, which was nice, because it meant I got away from the Turnstiles for an hour.

As far as meeting people, I was also reasonably shy when I started with Disney. I got along with all my roommates, although now (9 years later) I don't really talk with any of them anymore. I met some folks at some of the housing events, and I volunteered at Give Kids The World a few times, and met some folks that way (and still talk to 1 or 2 of them)

I can't answer your questions about pay or anything like that, it's been too long, and my information wouldn't be accurate anymore.