DISNEY COLLEGE PROGRAM | What it's REALLY like

hi guys welcome back to my channel so today I am doing another Disney video and today's video is going to be all about the Disney College Program so some of you know already that I was a part of the Disney College Program and you haven't asking me tons of questions all about what it was like what to expect what the interview process is like so today's video is all about what it was really like being a part of the Disney College Program also check out for a huge announcement coming up at the very end of the video where I talk about my possible return to Disney in some way or another so I'm gonna start off with the very basics of what it is cuz a lot of people don't understand is it an internship how long is it so it is a program for people who are in college and it's kind of like the equivalent of a study abroad program you will pause on your normal college career wherever you're going you will go to Disney either in Florida or California for a set amount of time it depends on when you go I did the fall program and there was a fall extension program I can't remember the name of it but it was for six months starting in May and going through just December that if I did that that would interrupt my graduation so I didn't do that I started in September and went through until December so some programs are longer than others but typically it's anywhere between four to six months it's very similar to a study abroad program where you go away for a couple months get to live there and then you come back to whatever you're doing in college so when I applied I actually got very fortunate I know some people do apply a couple different times and they don't necessarily get in the first time so I got very lucky I got in the very first time I applied and I actually applied the very last time I could have applied because I applied my very last semester in college and if I didn't get it like I would have never done it so I applied my very last semester of college I applied actually the day the applications came out and I do think that's actually really important I think the longer that they're there I think it will be the harder for you to get approved I can't confirm or deny that but I the whole process for me went really quick because I'm lied on the first day this is back in 2015 so this is two years ago it's kind of hard for me to remember but I my interview on the phone I want to say two weeks to a month maybe after that and then I heard that I got in a month later whatever the time for him is normally if he's like a few months I heard back within a month so I heard back a lot sooner than other people did in fact what I went to the college program performer audition I already knew when I went to that audition that I had gotten in so I heard back way sooner than other people so I do think there is an advantage to applying as soon as they come out and also I think the spots like fill up for the different roles so you might have a better opportunity at getting the role that you want so let me also start off by talking about the interview process or what it takes or what it looks like when you apply so my friend had signed up for the emails that's how I knew the very first day and it opened but the application process isn't always open they have opportunities for summer spring and fall and the fall one has an advantage program where you can do it two months earlier and start in May so it's kind of like a summer and fall program but they don't always have applications open so you have to know when they're going to open applications and they won't really list the date on their website but they will send up an email before the applications are open so what you do is as soon as the applications open I would again highly recommend applying I think I had a higher chance of getting in because I applied the first day and I was really on top of doing the whole application process so you fill out an online application but basically what you do is you fill out the basic information it's kind of like a job application to be honest I was kind of surprised about that but it was a lot like a job application where I provided my previous work history and I also listed where I would like to live like if I wanted to do the Florida one or the California one which one was my top pick out of the two just the basic information I got to be totally honest I love California and I love Disneyland I was born in California and so I've grown up with my family going to Disneyland if I had as many opportunities at the Disneyland option I probably would have done that one but the Disneyland one is definitely not as developed as the Disneyworld one the world one has been around for longer I think that was the original one and they have so much more opportunities so really to get the most of this program I feel like you should do the Florida one I could be totally wrong I've never done the Disney one or Disneyland one I'm sure that one's just as great but when I was going through I could see the Disneyland one only really had I think those five options for job opportunities so they had what was it I believe it was attractions and rides food and beverage things they had custodial and they also had merchandise and there's one more I can't remember but they had very limited opportunities whereas the florida option had about three tons they my opportunities he had the dippity bobbidi boutique you had PhotoPass character attendant character performer so I feel like that one was a lot more advantageous in the sense that I could I have a better chance of getting a job that I would really like doing that one even though it was very intimidating thinking about moving across the country I will have to admit that part was kind of scary but I thought that was that had more opportunities so I took that one first I ended up getting in that one but I talked through choices what we're a character performer character attendant and then bibbidi bobbidi boutique I worked for Sephora I love makeup so I have that would be good be a good option for me as well but I would also love to do photo pass I think that would fun to think they also have a lifeguard job they have just so many different types of jobs so that's why I was leaning more towards the Disneyworld option and yeah so you do that and then you have the phone interviews so you set the time to do the phone interview and honestly you should prepare for this like you would prepare for a job interview you should already have questions in my prepared they're going to ask you some of those questions being like oh well why do you think you'd be good for this role or what draws you to this role and they'll even like question you on like some of the things you would be doing in that role for example I put my number one as character performer and so they were asking me things such as if we need to prove how to go away what would you tell me yes and I said something like oh you know when he's got a little bit of a rumbling this timely he's gonna go get his pot of honey but he'll be right back but they're gonna ask you questions about why you were suited for the roles if there is a rule that you really want like the character performer role or the character attendant role have some examples prepared about why do you think he would be such a good fit for that role so for me I had acting experience and I always loved acting so I really emphasize that so make sure with any job interview you do your research you know what the role entails and you know you want to tell the person how you will be amazing at that role and how you can make that role better if that makes sense anyways the interview I felt like went great I tried so hard just to be really excited and very peppy and just show how much I wanted this and how much I loved it so yeah so then I to be a character performer you you have to go to an audition luckily they happen to have an audition in Seattle I live in Washington State until they have one in Seattle which is really cool because some of the times they just don't have them even in your state so that was really awesome I met some friends from Eastern Washington I met some friends of Idaho so it was a really fun audition experience if you guys have seen my other audition video you know that I didn't get to be care to perform which I'm actually really glad about I loved the character attendant role and that was the role I was selected eyes and got to do while I was in the college program here's what you can expect with a Disney College Program so you will expect to have housing they step they supply they provide housing for you and they also provide transportation now you know a lot of people chose to bring their own cars I did not have that luxury I was coming from Washington State that would be a lot of money for a short amount of time for me to ship my car out but I chose to do the athletes called trend star bus system and I really didn't mind it I knew a lot of people just absolutely hated it I think by the time that I had gotten there they had done some significant improvements and it wasn't as late it was pretty on time they even had a bus app for it so you can see when the bus was coming I never really had a problem with it I would always also catch a ride with friends sometimes but they do provide transportation which is cool and they do provide housing but they do take money out of your paycheck each I think it's yeah it's each week because you get paid weekly they take money out of your paycheck each week to provide for that so you can't also expect to not make a kind of money it's not like you're gonna get rich from this but you will also have a job which i think is really cool so you have a job you have an option to take courses there which I'll explain a little bit you have the option to that you have transportation provided and then you also have housing so it's cool because if you're like me and you're from the other side of the country and you're really stressed out about where am I gonna live how am I gonna get to my job what job am I going to have like all that stuff is provided for you and you're only there for a set of mind time so it's a really cool experience to be able to work for Disney but still go back to college so once you get accepted then you get to choose where you want to live who you want to live with so I had a friend I think I mentioned her earlier that new and the applications are coming out she also got accepted and we wanted to room together so we obviously picked each other she had done the program before and so she had friends from her previous program that we're doing the program again and so she was able to talk to them and we all said that we wanted to room together all of us however I thought there was we thought there was an option to pick more than one roommate because there are housing situations where you can have like six people there is what some eight people there are ones with two people so there's a lot of different options and we thought that you would be able to say oh I wanted to live with all six of these people because there was an option to have a room or have a living situation with six people so I was worried and so they only gave you up to three so I obviously picked my one friend that I knew and then she picked another friend and then there are other three friends picked each other and we all just assumed you know maybe when we get there we can talk to them and have them all put all six of us in a room that she didn't work out that way we got to the three actually other random roommates two of them already knew each other previously and one of them did not know any of us so I think it also just kind of depends on the program sometimes they will give you the option to pick multiple people sometimes they won't so but they do give you the option to pick at least one other person so that if you do know someone going into it so you won't have to be completely alone and they did give you different housing options I at Vista Way I really liked it a lot of people talk to really bad about it because out of all the different living areas it definitely wasn't the nicest one but it was I want to say with the least expensive ones but when I was there too they were doing construction then they were remodeling it we just happened to get into a room or a living situation apartment I guess that wasn't one of the remodeled ones so it was a little bit cheaper which was nice again living expenses in Florida are much cheaper than they are in Washington State and even the pay that was a little bit lower too so it wasn't too terrible I didn't really mind it too much but there are different options and you can look online too and just see the reviews or people have said there was some other fun living areas as well so very briefly you do get the option to choose who you want to live with it just kind of depends on the program how many people you get to live with and then you do get to to their list your preferences in the area that you would like to live as well so they can't always guarantee that you will get the apartment complex area that you like the most but they will do their best to provide that so what you can expect from the living situation like I said before there was different room setup so there were three main rooms there were two band rooms it just really ranged on where you were living like which housing complex you were at and also your personal apartment complex they had different layouts and so there had different sup it's a room so I happen to have a two-bedroom with my friend I knew from college which really was really nice for me it was just so nice because I'm such a homebody and there were days I just really missed my family and friends at home and it was just nice to have a familiar face who got it who would know the people I would talk about but I think for the most part we all got along pretty great there was one roommate who I didn't really vibe well with the entire time we were just really different and that is one thing to be cautious of I did expend me I think everyone had their own experience from what it sounded like but it did sound like everyone had at least one conflict with some sort of roommates so because there are so many different types of people in the college program you can't really guarantee that you will always get along great with your roommates again I really didn't like my roommates they were really fun just this one girl which is very different for me the way we thought about things was different the way we reacted things was different and so we were good most the time there are times that we just didn't click super well for example this should have been mad crazy Disney stories I don't know why it wasn't but one day I went to the little gym that was at my housing complex I come back and she has snuck in a recovering heroin addict from a facility who didn't have any sort of ID on him we weren't really allowed to have guests that didn't have ID they kinda like check the ID they were actually really good with security there which is a huge plus so she snuck him in in the trunk of her car and I came back at 11 and once it was 11 or 12 I came back from going to the gym I came back and she's just having loud intercourse with this like recovering heroin addict she doesn't know this guy she met off a tinder and it's just like I mean it was the middle of the day wasn't like she didn't know I thought like she knew everyone was out of the house she was kind of bragging about it afterwards so we're just very different in that aspect and she can do her but it was just kind of hard because it did in air fear with my boundaries like for me like that's not okay so that was not the best roommate experience for me and it definitely made me realize that I need to be very picky about the roommates I will have in the future because you can't always guarantee you'll get along everyone and the whole some people could do the whole random roommate from Craigslist option I personally cannot this is a great opportunity or explanation why she was a really nice person a lot of the other girls got along with her great it's just seemed to be me her that just did not clash well based off of you know what I thought was appropriate in terms of boundaries and what you shouldn't shouldn't do in the middle of the day when I'm coming back from a run and I was not expecting that to be happening and it was just very shocking so anyways you don't always pick your roommates so I felt like roommate conflict was a thing like from when I talked to you from other people that lived in two other apartments it was had like one person that I didn't get along with I have a one friend come to think of it now who these two girls are twin sisters they got kicked out because they were chasing each other around the apartment complex with a knife like so you just don't know where these people are coming from you can't really guarantee they're not all from the same background is you which is also really cool though because you'll have all these different people from different words of the country different parts of the world and it's really cool because they'll have the people there who are coming from like that and they have an international program as well so you have people there you can meet from all over the world and I think it's a really cool experience that not many people get to experience like where I went to college a lot of people there were from that area or from at least the west coast so it was really cool for me just to get to know other people from different backgrounds different walks of life and it was a really cool experience and that aspect I'm just getting to know people that I wouldn't normally get to know so the classes were pretty cool and they did give you a few options so my University was pretty big and they did offer online classes so if I was still in college I could have taken collegiate courses there and just done them online they also gave you the option to take courses for credit that they offered which I thought was pretty cool they also had bad lots of workshops which I went to the one the workshops and I would highly recommend it and what else oh yes I took two classes there they were I think for six weeks they were not that bad the whole program with the majority of the program I was taking two different classes I took a marketing class and I also took a Disney history class as well it's called I think it's called traditions again I haven't noticin been two years so my memory is not the best since then but I believe there was a class called traditions it was actually really hard to get into but I am so glad I did it if you are a huge Disney fan and you were doing the college program and you have the chance to sign up for that class you should do it it is so cool it just walks through Walt Disney's life like where he began and how he liked his early years how he became interested in art his whole business side there were so many things I learned there that I didn't even know one of the coolest things I learned from that class was that they originally when they created Magic Kingdom in Florida they didn't have the intention of putting in parts of the Caribbean they didn't plan on putting that in it because what they imagined was having prior to the Caribbean which is on the East Coast on in Disneyland which is on the west coast so they're bringing the east to the west and then they were going to bring the west coast to the East Coast and so they actually wanted to build Thunder mountain in that area instead of having parts of the Caribbean they weren't gonna have it at all but when they opened Magic Kingdom people were so upset that they didn't have parts that Caribbean so they quickly took all the funds they had to build a Thunder Mountain area and took that and built both Space Mountain and they also built parts of the Caribbean so if you're impaired to the Caribbean in Florida and you're used to the one from Disneyland you'll notice it's a lot shorter I mean it's still a fun ride but it's definitely nowhere near as great as the original one is is that's because they had such a time crunch they were just trying as fast as they could to build that ride because people were expecting it and they had no idea would be that missed it Magic Kingdom so I thought that was cool I had no idea that wasn't planned and that makes sense clouds I was wondering why it wasn't the same ride and why it wasn't as good and why it was someone shorter and that's why it's because they didn't originally plan for it anyways all let's say that class is really great and I would also recommend taking the marketing class it was really interesting I was just curious because Disney is such a huge corporation and they are very very successful I think that's very widely known and so I was really interested in learning about marketing and business from one of the most you know financially sound business companies obviously what they do works so it's cool learning from them about how that works they will also sometimes have fun events suggest for the college program students like it I know there was one night they have a special character meet-and-greet and it was Ariel and Prince Eric who have always been my favorites so I was so excited to meet them it was a lot of fun as soon as I saw Prince Eric I've never met Prince Eric as soon as I saw him was just like Ariel who like I didn't even pay attention to Ariel I was just going to write for Prince Eric and I was just so excited so they had character meet and greets just for the college program students which is cool they also had different events like I know that they had like a mini formal which is really fun too so it was it was a really cool it was a really cool experience they had lots of different things you could do oh and the workshops I forgot to mention the workshops they had different workshops about like interviewing and resume building and I so highly suggest that you have if you have the chance to do one of them just throw it away I know the resume one that I went to it was earlier in the morning so I was just like oh my gosh I did not want to get on bed right now and go to that but I'm so glad I went so you have the opportunity to learn from one of the most successful business companies about what they look for in a resume or how to interview like they're teaching you how to do these things and these are really great life skills so if you have the chance to do it I would highly suggest it it was so cool for me to learn I've already done different things like with my resume I already went to workshops but it was really cool to learn like what Disney look for on a resume or what stood out to them or what matter and what didn't so those are really cool they had the workshops that they had different levels of classes too but the workshops are free I believe and they're open to everyone so I would really highly suggest if you were on the college program if you're thinking about it to sign up for those workshops because it will make a huge difference and you will not regret it I feel like I pretty much covered everything there's the application process there's what to expect when you're working there you will have a job no matter what it might not be your first pick and a job but honestly just try your hardest to make the best of it I had my friend actually that I lived with she heard from her first program she did food and beverage and I think she wasn't looking forward to it but then she made some friends who were in custodial and she said that she was so jealous because they were so close and they had so much fun and whenever she got to hang out with them she wished she genuinely wish that she could be on the custodial staff which I feel like no one goes into that thinking that they're gonna want that job but I think every opportunity has the chance for you to make the best of it I think there's obviously they were taste to where I just really didn't want to be a character attendant there were days when I was a performer I just did not want to be a performer and there are downsides and upsides to every job you will ever have in life I believe so I think any job is what you make of it what's interesting is her first program she did food and beverage and the second program she did she was a florist she did the florist program and I guess it was her first year doing it and she was really excited and the florist position sound like so much fun they said that you would be able to do weddings and see the Cinderella Castle suite and do all these fun different things and it sound like really cool opportunity but when she got there I guess all people who have been there previously has just upped and quit and so the managers were new and she wasn't she was doing it like gift baskets and her talents weren't really being used and she actually ended up really not liking it which is funny because I feel like someone who if they were looking at that job they would think oh my gosh that would be so much more fun than food and beverage but she genuinely missed being in food and beverage because of the camaraderie she had with the people that were working there so I think in any situation with any job that they offer and either the Disneyland college program or in the Florida College Program there's gonna be some jobs that maybe aren't as favorable and sometimes if you do I think it's a view applying later to or if you apply for a second time you might not always get the first pick of your dog like I know I didn't get the character perform a role I was a character attendant and I'm not gonna lie I was kind of bummed about that because I really wanted to be performer but I'm so glad looking back on it that I had the opportunity to be a character attendant because I like I had a perspective that a lot of the performers didn't have because I saw the whole picture I knew how the characters and the character attendants wouldn't get treated fairly if a performer came on set late summers just didn't care but they didn't understand like while they're taking their time coming onto set and just you know coming out late the character turns are getting yelled at even some of the right operations people who are with the meet and greet locations they get yelled at and it's not fair for them to get yelled at because you're taking your sweet time coming out so I always made sure that I was always on time as a performer because I knew the repercussions of me just taking a few extra minutes so things like that I really appreciate having the character attendant role because I saw the big picture and I saw how each job really affects the other one I saw how a bad performer could really make an Intendant job a lot harder or how a bad attended to could make the performers job a lot harder and say both PhotoPass too I think there's a lot of different elements to the meet and greet experience and it's not always just about the performer I think a bad for the pass or a bad attendant could also ruin that really for the guest as well so I really was kind of glad at the end of it that I didn't get the roller Julian wanted I had an amazing time on my college program yes there were days where it was just you know waiting for the bus wasn't fun or I didn't always get along like roommates or work was hard or I missed my family so there are some cons to it but I had the chance to work for Disney so I think I have covered everything again this is just all from the top of my head well I can't remember it was two years ago so it's my memories probably not the best but you guys felt really requested it sounds like sure you know what I'll just do a video on it if you didn't have any questions please leave your questions down below I would be more than happy to answer them for you because I know I'm sure there's probably some things that I just didn't cover and you were looking forward to so for some announcements um so I feel like I've used this back from a lot recently I'm in the process of a moving so everything's a huge mess right now and this is like the only thing that's like clean and it's already set up so I keep using that that's why I keep using that so my videos might be a little inconsistent because I am moving I will try to still make them at the same day and time it's like Tuesday or Wednesday I try to make my video sometimes it doesn't work out because I'm gone on the weekends but I will still do my best to have these up for you once a week even though I'm in the process of moving and I do have a really exciting announcement for you guys I am planning a trip going back to Disney World in the fall so I haven't decided yet on any specific dates or anything like that it's just a plan that I have it's going to happen and so plan I have right now I'll let you guys know more details when it gets closer but yeah I don't like guys that when I have more details by I am planning to go back and visit Disney World in the fall sometimes so I'm really excited to go see friends and I just love Disney in the fall it's also less crowded then in the fall so that's kind of nice but I'm really excited about it and I thought let you guys know and I'll probably do some vlogging or videos on what to pack like what to wear because I know a lot of you guys have also asked for Disney merchandise or favorite Disney clothing items and stuff like that so I will definitely do a video on that as well and I'm so excited and I couldn't wait to let you guys know thank you guys so much for watching this video I hope you enjoyed learning about what it was like for me to be a part of the Disney College Program and I will see you all in my next video bye

Channel: kenziemacbrown

Views: 115,001

Keywords: Disney College Program, Disney Cast Member, Disney World, Disneyland, Disney, Disney Character Performer, Disney Character Attendant, Disney Photopass, Disney CP, College Program, What is the Disney College Program, Disney College Program Housing, Disney College Program 2017, Disney College Program Disney World, Disney College Program Fall 2017

Id: TAHWGUCeesc

Length: 26min 26sec (1586 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 16 2017