Does the program ruin the MAGIC?

[gabzee]

My daughter has been very interested in participating in the Disney College Program. However, she is a little afraid that it will ruin the magic of Disney. Has anyone felt this way? How many hours do you work per day/ per week? How have credits were you taking with the College Program?

 

[bopnopper9]

In short, yes. It ruins the childlike, happy, pixie dust magic that you had as a kid.

BUT! But, working for Disney provides it's own, amazing, inexplainable magic that makes up for it, in my opinion, 1000%.

There's always Disneyland which always feels the same "magicalness", to me. Then at Disney World is where I work. I still love visiting the parks. I love the "cast member" inside me that just has to pick up trash and answer questions for the guests. It makes me feel knowledgeable. I love the backstage magic they provide. I loooooove the perks. I love learning how a huge company runs. It's all so amazing.

Don't allow fear of "ruining magic" to prevent you from getting a job and a fantastic learning experience. I promise, there's enough magic in Disney to go around. If you really love Disney enough, you'll find happiness any way you experience it. At least, that's been my experience.

Good luck with whatever you choose! I hope whether you find magic, or create it, you love what you do! That's my advice to your daughter.

 

[jeenyus720]

I've heard from some people that it does ruin the magic, but not at all for me. Although, I was never a "Disney freak" as some people call them. I was more in love with Disney on the corporate side. Seeing how its run from the inside out was its own "magic" for me.

 

[PixieDust90]

It depends.

Your daughter will become 'numb' to the parks, since she will be able to go whenever she feels. That feeling only lasts while she will be working there and when she returns after the internship has ended, she will have even more fun remembering the memories she made. I know it might sound silly, but for me, half the fun of a Disney trip is the planning, the hotel stay and spending time with my family. With the college program is a whole different spin.

She also needs to be prepared, she will see characters without all the costume pieces on, and not all people who do the internship are there for the 'magic' (just to party or do something different.)

However, she will get to experience really cool things that only cast members get to see and do, like backstage tours of attractions, restaurants and special events.

 

[saturdaygirl]

the one thing that i walked away with was that i never knew how much my parents paid whenever we went before i worked there!!

hours per day/week all depended on where you worked. i worked at the wws(wide world of sports) where their busy days were fri, sat, sun and we usually worked 8hr days, sometimes 6 when there wasnt that much going on. then in the summer when NOTHING was going on, they deployed us to the water parks and epcot. tyhpoon/blizzard, i worked 6hr days, usually, here and there. but at epcot? oh my gawd, i wanted to cry! haha because i wasnt used to what their regular cps were used to. this is an example that i wrote in my journal once

may 2007
20..... off aka today
21..... 11a-8:30 epcot
22..... 11a-8:30 epcot
23..... 11a-8:45 epcot
24..... 11a-9 epcot
25..... 4:30p-1130 wws
26..... 3p-12 wws
27..... 12p-8:30 epcot
28..... 7a-3:30 wws
29..... 11a-9:30 epcot
30..... 10:30a-8:30 epcot
31..... 11a-9:30 epcot
1....... off
2....... 10a-6:30 epcot probably

i remember asking one of the girls if they ever had days off and she was like not really, i was like WHAT!!!!! it was either that or they were at the end/beginning of in-a-row shifts and if you go during the summer, sometimes it'll rain and you get shipped home(those were my favorite days haha, i remember one time i went to clock in and the mgr was like 'it's raining, you're not needed, enjoy the rest of your day!')

actually, while i was doing my program, i encouraged one of my online friends to go for it and she did. doing the college program turned out to be one of the worst experiences of her life! i always felt bad about that :/

oh and ps. i was qsf&b. at wws, i sold concession food. at the water parks, i worked in the little restaurants and at epcot, i did the soda/popcorn/turkey/icecream carts

 

[gabzee]

Thank you all! Anymore experiences would be great! Has anyone ever taken classes with the college program?

 

[taythegibs]

In short, yes. It ruins the childlike, happy, pixie dust magic that you had as a kid.

BUT! But, working for Disney provides it's own, amazing, inexplainable magic that makes up for it, in my opinion, 1000%.

There's always Disneyland which always feels the same "magicalness", to me. Then at Disney World is where I work. I still love visiting the parks. I love the "cast member" inside me that just has to pick up trash and answer questions for the guests. It makes me feel knowledgeable. I love the backstage magic they provide. I loooooove the perks. I love learning how a huge company runs. It's all so amazing.

Don't allow fear of "ruining magic" to prevent you from getting a job and a fantastic learning experience. I promise, there's enough magic in Disney to go around. If you really love Disney enough, you'll find happiness any way you experience it. At least, that's been my experience.

Good luck with whatever you choose! I hope whether you find magic, or create it, you love what you do! That's my advice to your daughter.

It depends.

Your daughter will become 'numb' to the parks, since she will be able to go whenever she feels. That feeling only lasts while she will be working there and when she returns after the internship has ended, she will have even more fun remembering the memories she made. I know it might sound silly, but for me, half the fun of a Disney trip is the planning, the hotel stay and spending time with my family. With the college program is a whole different spin.

She also needs to be prepared, she will see characters without all the costume pieces on, and not all people who do the internship are there for the 'magic' (just to party or do something different.)

However, she will get to experience really cool things that only cast members get to see and do, like backstage tours of attractions, restaurants and special events.

i have to agree with both of those, while i didnt take classes i had several friends who did and only one or two seemed to like the classes, they seemed to feel that it was too overwhelming to take the classes and be working "full time." While i spent ten months working at WDW i can not wait to go back, be it as a cp again (come on fall 2012 apps!!!!) or as a guest, for me it lost one magic but gained another more powerful one!

 

[polymerpig]

My daughter just extended her 2nd CP and was seasonal for 3 years between CPs. I am always amazed that she has not become numb at all. She works a full day then stays at her park (MK) and rides rides for a while and often will go to another park afterwards. She goes to the parks on her days off. She goes with friends, roommates, co-workers, or alone. I think it's just as magical for her now 4 years after she was first hired. Doesn't mean she's not annoyed by policies, people, etc. - it's just like any other job. But the Disney magic is still there. Seeing characters in partial costume, behind the scenes stuff...all just makes it more magic for her.

Her schedule is very different than the PP. She has never had a stretch that long without a day off (unless PP was picking up shifts on days off??). Both CPs she was 5 days on 2 off...pretty regularly. The days off may move a bit based on need (so she may go 6 days before her days off). Number of hours totally depends on location within parks too - she usually only had 6 hour shifts at Epcot unless she extended on purpose. Her roommates seemed to have a lot more hours than her. This time at MK her shifts are usually longer than she had at Epcot.

 

[KiSsMySaSs89]

For me, it was very easy to "turn off" the cast member (or at least part of it) in me after work and become a guest again. I worked in Toontown (R.I.P) and there were times when characters would come into the breakroom with half of a costume on which I'm not going to lie, is a little jarring the first time. But I would still go and visit characters on my days off. There was one time where Minnie and Mickey (in full costume) got on the cast member bus to head back to the Utilidors and the CMs on there turned into little kids, freaking out that Mickey and Minnie were riding the bus with them.

 

[AliSW]

Yeah it didn't ruin any magic for me, all it did was create it. Before I went there I liked Disney but now I love it and miss everything about it! I didn't go to the parks every day off or anything but still I'm not at all sick of the parks. plus I just feel cooler knowing what is backstage and seeing characters there sometimes.

 

[Disney DNA]

I don't think it ruins the magic, if anything it enhances it. My sister worked there for months and she said of course it wasn't always glamour and glorious but she said it only enhanced her love for Disney. You able to see how the magic is created, and delivered right to the guests! She loved Disney going in but leaving it gave her a even bigger passion for the company. She worked behind the scenes, day in and day out she was there. Creating magic for little kids, people who have never been to Disney World and being able to be apart of creating atmosphere of The Happiest Place on Earth( Which it is). She did the program over 5 years ago and it's still near and dear to her heart and she could suggest the program to everyone. So it my opinion, working for Disney only enhances the magic!

 

[uttom300]

Does it ruin the magic? The answer is different for everyone. Being able to go backstage and see characters with their heads off and all of the other stuff that is behind the magic certainly dampens the magic. However, the magic of Disney goes beyond that. Even after doing a CP, whenever I see one of the characters, I still see the character. When the performer is on stage, they become that character, whether it is a face or fur character. It is still very exciting to see Mickey or one of the princesses on stage. The characters don't change even if the performer does. The Castle is as great as ever and I still love "Wishes", even though I've seen it countless times. Some people definitely feel the magic is ruined for them, but most still love it.

 

[Joanna71985]

Didn't for me. In fact, the CP helped make the magic stronger (which is probably why I ended up doing 6 CPs before going FT).

 

[keypooh90]

I have been here a week and absolutely not! I am so excited to get to create happiness and magical moments for guests. Sure, you see things like friends of characters with half done costumes, but I can tell you at the welcome party this week, hundreds of CPs still lined up to meet Aloha Mickey and Minnie!

 

[DISshopkeeper]

I think My DD has not had the magic soured yet. Here's a recent conversation I had with her (she's a character attendant this semester, merchandise last semester):

She was working in EPCOT with Donald Duck in Mexico last week and I asked specifically about the Donald costume and the age of the person in the suit. I said "I want to know if it's an adult or a kid in that Donald costume. He's SO SHORT!"

Long pause from her..... then "What do you mean?"

And I said, "Well, Lace, it's not a hard question... Who's in the Donald suit??"

Another long pause.... and...

"You don't think it's just Donald Duck? You think it's someone in a suit? It's just Donald Duck."

She said this with a lot of sincerity and I was momentarily stunned. So apparently the Brain Washing operation is running at full steam down there. Then she goes "Mom? You still there?" And she started laughing. And gave me the scoop, which was really quite interesting!

 

[bluelobster]

Honestly, I think seeing all the hard work and effort that goes into making the magic only *amplified* it for me. It's one thing to be passive as it happens around you, it's entirely another thing to be actively participating in it.

 

[taigirl87]

Honestly, I think seeing all the hard work and effort that goes into making the magic only *amplified* it for me. It's one thing to be passive as it happens around you, it's entirely another thing to be actively participating in it.

That's how I feel. When people would ask me this question(guests, family members, friends) I always said that seeing how things worked was just as magical if not more.

 

[edk35]

My daughter is there now. She checked in on Jan. 9th. So far she is enjoying her job at the Emporium on Main Street/Merchandise. She has gotten 2 days off a week...sometimes two in a row. She starts her classes next week. I think she signed up for two, but is only keeping 1. She has seen some characters without their heads, but she has seen/learned some really cool/neat things. I agree with others about the magic not being lost.....the "magic" is not lost for her either. She enjoys going to the parks on her days off or evenings if she has worked all day..and she has about 20 trips under her belt. They have some neat perks too...so I know she will come away with having had the time of her life. The only thing that is a negative for her...she misses her boyfriend a lot.

 

[julayla]

I still love Disney World and can't wait to go back... as a guest. If anything, I came away even more impressed that the parks are as magical as they are. The bureaucratic/business side of Disney isn't so magical, but that's to be expected. I'm proud of the experience I had down there as a culinary CP and have good memories, but there were some rough days too.

And in spite of the negatives, part of me wouldn't mind doing the program again. But I'd want a different role. Something that offers a bit of autonomy and immerses me in one of the parks, such as custodial or maybe photopass photographer.