Walt Disney World College Program

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Disney Theme Parks & Resorts College Program Logo

The Walt Disney World College Program is a U.S. national internship program operated by The Walt Disney Company, located at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Walt Disney World College Program recruits students (18 years and older) and all majors for a semester-long paid internship program working at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Walt Disney World College Recruiting actively schedules program presentations at most major universities and community colleges across the United States and its territories. The philosophy behind the program is further divided into three main concentrations: living, learning and earning.

Contents

[edit] History

The first Walt Disney World College Program began in 1981. In the early days, the College Program consisted of just over 200 students from 20 schools working in only one theme park, the Magic Kingdom.[1] At that time it was known as "The Magic Kingdom College Program". In 1983, program participants could work at Epcot as well as the Magic Kingdom and the program was known as "The Walt Disney World College Program"[2], employing approximately 500 college students each 3-month spring, summer and fall session. From the beginning of the program until 1988, almost all program participants stayed in an off-property mobile home park called "Snow White Village Campground" (the remainder in Lake Vista Village apartments) in Kissimmee, Florida. 1988 saw the opening of Vista Way apartments, which were much closer to the participant's employment.[3] Following the resort's massive growth in the 1990's and the widespread popularity of the internet, the College Program has grown substantially, seeing three new participant housing complexes built and many more colleges represented. As of 2005, 8,000 students have participated each year representing at least 301 colleges and universities[4][1] with an average of 4,000 students at any given time.[5]

In the Fall of 2004, student opportunities at Disneyland and Walt Disney Imagineering were combined with the opportunities available at Walt Disney World and the program was renamed to the Disney Theme Parks and Resorts College Program. Currently, the program is being promoted as simply the Disney College Program. The opportunities with Disneyland and Imagineering are quite different from the opportunities available at Walt Disney World in both the structure of the program and the content of the program. Walt Disney World's program remains the largest and most popular program.

[edit] Application process

Students who apply to the program are given the option of one of several program seasons throughout the year, each usually lasting between five and seven months, though the culinary session length is dependent upon the student's school schedule.

To be considered for the program, each student must attend an information session about the program or view the same session online. Afterwards, students can get an interview over the telephone. Here the students inform recruiters of the position in which they would like to work while attending the program. Some of these positions (or roles) are food and beverage, operations, custodial, hospitality, and character work. If a student chooses to do character work, they are given a date and location at which to attend an audition. Beginning in 2005, Disney offered an online presentation to better accommodate students' schedules for the live information sessions. [6]

If the student has been accepted, they will receive an acceptance letter within three to six weeks of the interview, which must be replied to in order to secure a spot in the program.

[edit] Program information

At the beginning of the program in the early 80s, three "experiences" were emphasized: "The Learning Experience", which involved participation in Disney's "Leisure Time Business Management Studies", "The Work Experience" which included work in 4 major areas of the resort, and "The Recreational Experience" which emphasized recreational activities and Disney-sponsored events.[2] Since that time, the experiences have changed slightly to "living", "learning" and "earning".[7]

The "Living" experience is similar to the program's original "Recreational" experience. Once the student has accepted their position with Disney, they can stay in one of four, company sponsored housing units near Walt Disney World Resort during the duration of the program: Vista Way, Chatham Square, Patterson Court, and The Commons, which houses mainly international Cast Members. The housing units provide Internet access, but the program also emphasizes activities and sponsored events, networking sessions, and "personal and professional development courses."[8] The courses are available in the housing classrooms or online.[9]

The "Learning" experience began in the early 80s as a group of 9 seminars on the "philosophies and operating practices" of the various sections of Walt Disney World's business.[2] It has grown to include 8 different courses, each focusing on a Disney excellence topic, rather than a business area. Student are required to do textbook readings, write term papers and participate on special projects.[10] The program also offers "job shadowing" for students on days they are not working. Students can follow and witness Disney employees whose careers are similar to the student's major.[11]

The "Earning" experience emphasizes going "behind the scenes" and providing excellent Guest services.[12] At the program's inception, students were expected to work in one of 4 "major operating areas": Food, Merchandise, Attractions, and Custodial.[2] Currently, Walt Disney World College Program students work in many diverse “Disney Roles” throughout all four theme parks, more than 20 resorts, two water parks and the various dining/entertainment/retail/sports complexes on the property. Students are assigned specific work shifts and the work itself may not be considered "glamorous" by some, but the work is essential for the day-to-day operation of the theme parks and resorts and normally emphasizes Guest interaction.[13] Typical pay began in the mid-80s at around $4.75 an hour and currently ranges from $7.21-$8.56 an hour at 35 to 50 hours per week.[14]

Depending on the requirements of a student's school, internship credit may be earned.[15] Other benefits of the program are free park admission, discounted merchandise, and connections with people on the Disney staff who can help further a future career at Disney if the student chooses to return at a later date.[9]

[edit] Alumni

After completion of the Disney College Program, many alums return to their communities and share their experiences in areas such as food service,[4] merchandise,[16] characters,[17] and life-guarding.[18] College Program graduates can also apply for Disney's advanced internships, internships that are in a field related to the students' major, along with higher pay. The Advanced internship program is also available for college graduates.[4][14][17] Some companies are known to target program alumni as employee prospects due to their customer service experience.[4]

Some alumni keep in touch with each other after the program and attend reunions across the country. in October 1997, Disney held a 15 year reunion for all College Program alumni at Walt Disney World.[19]

In the early 1990's, John M. Best and Jeffrey R. Rudeen edited two College Program alumni postal newsletters. The Disney-sponsored "Disney College Programs Alumni News" (later renamed to "Alumni News") was a quarterly newsletter that focused on news about Disney's parks and resorts, while the unofficial quarterly "College Program Alumni Newsletter" focused on stories involving alumni and reunions. The newsletters continued throughout the 90s. Today, alums can subscribe to Disney's alumni email newsletter from their College Program website.

In the late 1990s, alumni newsletters evolved into fan sites. Fan sites such as Disneyalumni.com, Vistawayallstars.com, Cpdatabase.info and Wdwcpinfo.com were created by alums to share College Program experiences, information for new college program participants, photos, contact databases, message boards and provide social networking.

Within the past few years, fan sites have given way to major social networking tools. Disney has an alumni page on Facebook, as well as an alumni group on the work-related networking site, LinkedIn. Many unofficial Facebook fan groups have appeared[20], providing the same functionality as the previous fan sites with standard Facebook features such as video, live chat, and email. One such global Facebook group, "Walt Disney World College Program Friends", has almost 10,000 members.

Until January 2005, Disney allowed returning alumni (as seasonal Cast Members) to stay in College Program housing. Due to the growth of the program, Disney discontinued the housing perk and started an alumni-only summer program for past College Program participants to return for select roles during the summer, the first session held from May to August.[21][22] In 2009, there was such high interest in the program that they stopped accepting applications after less than a month[23]

[edit] Criticism

Critics argue that Disney is using the program as a source of cheap labor, as interns do the same work as veteran employees, but at a significantly lower pay rate. [4] In late 2007, a permanent Cast Member ran for president of the local union in Orlando. Part of his platform intended to get rid of the Disney College program, claiming that the program "imports thousands of low-wage earners every year to work for Disney, depressing the local employment market and keeping wages down." Disney responded that the program is beneficial in the recruitment of cast members and that 4,000 workers out of 62,000 do not greatly impact operations.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Nichols, Amy (2001-10-30). "Opportunities await Disney College Program participants". http://dailynebraskan.com. http://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/1.1017249-1.1017249. Retrieved on 2009-03-06. 
  2. ^ a b c d (brochure) Walt Disney World College Program, Walt Disney Productions, 1983 
  3. ^ Mobley, Glenn (1998-04-27), MKCP 10 Year Anniversary Newsletter: Summer of '87, Glenn Mobley and Robin Quick-Brantley, p. 3 
  4. ^ a b c d e Associated Press (2005-07-05). "Disney internships draw students, criticism". http://msnbc.msn.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8464524/. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  5. ^ a b Billman, Jeffrey (2007-12-27). "Of Mouse and Man". http://orlandoweekly.com. http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12053. Retrieved on 2009-03-06. 
  6. ^ "Disney College Program E-Presentation". http://www.disneycollegeprogram.com/epresentation}. 
  7. ^ "Disney College Program Overview". Disney. http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/educators/program_info/cp_overview.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  8. ^ "Housing Overview". Disney. http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/educators/program_info/living/living_overview.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  9. ^ a b Atencio, Ashley (2008-11-13). "Disney College Program". http://florala.net. http://media.www.florala.net/media/storage/paper293/news/2008/11/13/Life/Disney.College.Program-3543202.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  10. ^ "Education Overview". Disney. http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/educators/program_info/education/education_overview.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  11. ^ Jewett, Brandi (2008-09-30). "Disney College Program offers students 'dynamic' opportunities". http://dakotastudent.com. http://media.www.dakotastudent.com/media/storage/paper970/news/2008/09/30/News/Disney.College.Program.Offers.Students.dynamic.Opportunities-3458260.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  12. ^ "Working: Real World Experience". Disney. http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/educators/program_info/working/work_overview.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  13. ^ "Disney College Program". http://insidemouse.com. 2009-01-03. http://insidemouse.com/disney-college-program/. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  14. ^ a b Cole, Ashley (2008-11-05). "The Disney College Program". http://thewestgeorgian.com. http://media.www.thewestgeorgian.com/media/storage/paper523/news/2008/11/05/News/The-Disney.College.Program-3526185.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  15. ^ "Disney College Program". http://realvacationscheap.wordpress.com. 2009-03-02. http://realvacationscheap.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/disney-college-program/. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  16. ^ Taylor, Tamika (2006-04-04). "A Germanna student is getting a Disney education in Orlando.". http://fredericksburg.com. http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/042006/04042006/178832. Retrieved on 2009-03-06. 
  17. ^ a b "Where fairytales come true: Lander students make magic happen at Disney". http://lander.edu. 2009-01-12. http://www.lander.edu/ur/news/2009/01/20090112-c.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-06. 
  18. ^ Kincaid, Sara (2006-01-12). "Disney lifeguarding experience a fun-filled break from college". http://bismarcktribune.com. http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/01/12/news/local/108403.txt. Retrieved on 2009-03-06. 
  19. ^ Best, John; Rudeen, Jeffrey (Winter 1996), Letter from the Editors, 4, Disney College Programs Alumni News, p. 3 
  20. ^ Peace, Kelsi (2007-03-09). "Student to work at Disneyland, earn credit". http://acuoptimist.com. http://media.www.acuoptimist.com/media/storage/paper891/news/2007/03/09/News/Student.To.Work.At.Disneyland.Earn.Credit-2770229.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. 
  21. ^ "For Alumni of the Progam....". Google Groups. http://groups.google.com/group/wdwcp/browse_thread/thread/130089a0742c00ba. Retrieved on 2009-03-10. 
  22. ^ "The College Board: Disney College Program in the summer". http://www.disboards.com. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=29961374. Retrieved on 2009-03-10. 
  23. ^ "Alumni-Only Summer College Program". http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com. http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/alumni/summer_program.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-09. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_College_Program"
Personal tools