Trip Report -- A Disney College Program Story and Saying Goodbye

Love the pictures of Abby and her DBF!

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My daughter was able to complete the program and also was accepted into the post graduate program. This was eight years ago. She now works in Disney Global HR. We retired and moved to Clermont 5 months ago. We love Disney and their programs. Good luck to you all in the future, I love the pictures and story. Stay safe!!!

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Yes, my daughter loved the program!

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My friend that I used to work with moved to Florida. He now works in Animal Kingdom

I bring him pretzels from Pennsylvania when I go.

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That’s awesome. Maybe that should be my retirement goal.

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I would never get my husband to move to Florida.

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Amazing pictures! :heart_eyes: Abby looks so happy and it looks like she had heaps of fun. How lovely to make life long friends…they look a great bunch.
And her BF sounds like a keeper…such a sweet couple!

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So Cute! Congratulations. Any advice for prospective applicants to the college program?

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I would say to do your research. Abby spent a lot of time researching tips for the interview process. I think it is important to show that you know the terminology and culture. For example, customers are guests, employees are cast members etc. There is a lot of info out there. Over the years, we also talked to a lot of DCPs when we saw them in the parks. Best of luck!

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It’s an interesting process. You apply online then get a web based interview which is mostly a personality test. My DD was notified less than an hour later that she had moved on to the phone interview portion. She scheduled it out about a week later in order to prepare and work around her school schedule. After she had her phone interview she waited I think about 3 weeks before she found out she was accepted. Her friend applied the day the application went live and she only found out a week before my DD.
Another friend applied 3-4 times and never made it to a web based interview, then weeks later received the dreaded No Longer in Consideration email.

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Your DDs interview experience sounds very close to my DDs. Her BF, who had prepared very little and applied on a whim was accepted with the very first wave of offers. That made her waiting to hear even harder!

@nancyfoley, also follow the DCP recruiters on Twitter. They post on days offers are coming out or if they are done making offers for the week. The waiting is difficult so it helps to have an idea of what is going on.

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Part 4 – The Job

It looks like Abby was just having fun but yes, she was there to work! When accepted into the DCP, she was given a job of Attractions. This is a very broad category and can be anything from running a ride to crowd control to working the taps at park entrance or even parking! In fact, the DCP parents FB page has a lot of info and perspective on how to wrap your mind around ending up in a parking lot when you thought you’d be in a park :grimacing:

Information on where you are working comes one week before arrival. Abby spent that day refreshing her email and was very excited to be assigned to Fantasyland East which consists of 7DMT, Enchanted Tales with Belle, The Little Mermaid Ride and Meet and Greet and Storybrook Circus. Her actual placement was finally revealed during training. And the winner was…

She was absolutely thrilled. Her first job choice when she applied had been children’s activities because she loves little kids. She knew that working Dumbo and Barnstormer she would get a lot of moments with little kids. It was perfect for her.

Training is extensive at Disney consisting of five full days of site specific training followed by an eight hour assessment including a 188 question exam. I am impressed with Disney in how much they pour into their employees, especially knowing, in the case of the DCP, that, in many cases, they are only going to be there a few months.

She loved her trainer too. He added all sorts of magical moments for them too including a night when he put them on Dumbo and they just kept riding while Happily Ever After was going on. Truly a Magical moment for her!

I was fortunate to be able to visit the day she finished her assessment.

By the end of the day she had “earned her ears,” she was ready to be on her own. Now it was time to make magic!!

Of the two rides, Barnstormer was her favorite. Her favorite moment was when a little boy came with his family and was excited that he was now finally tall enough to ride. She measured him and gave him the thumbs up. It was exciting for everyone and she put them through FastPass just to make the moment more special. They switch positions frequently during their shift and she was moved from the ride entrance to operation and ended up being able to see the family board and ride. Poor little guy ended up not liking it, but it was still fun for all that he had his first experience and she had been there for the whole process. As with, I think, many cast members, Abby loved being able to add some magic to people’s vacations.

Of course there were tough days too. Fastpass merge was her most hated position. When it was super crowded and she had to put ten fast pass people through for every one stand by guest, the situation could be tense. On one particular crowded night, there was a group that was especially harsh with her, screaming at her and calling her names in Spanish. She cried through the rest of that rotation and called me on her break still in tears. The DCP parent’s FB page had warned us all that we would get the crying phone call at one point over negative experiences with guests. Still, it was a tough call and when she translated what they had called her in Spanish…oh, my goodness, so not good!

Back to the good things! They also had events for the cast members including parties!

Being a Disney Cast Member was pretty cool! She loved her job and fellow circus cast members. She loved making magic. She also really loved her CM discount which she took advantage of :joy: Dumbo now has a special place in her heart too :heart:

Up next – you’re kid has just been accepted into the Disney College Program! What are your going to do next? I’m going to Disney World. Yay, trips for mom!!

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She looks adorable! It makes me so angry to hear of guests being rude or nasty to CMs. I hope that there were far more magical moments with guests than nasty ones though. And I’m glad she didn’t get put in the car park :joy: That would be a huge disappointment.

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Thank you. We knew there would be grumpy guests. It’s just part of it all. There were way more kind guests, even on that bad night. She learned from that though too. It toughened her up and although I would always have considered her a kind person, now she goes even more out of her way to be kind and considerate to any type of employee be it at Disney or any other place because she understands now better the difference kindness can make. Nothing was wasted!

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Yes it’s all good life experience.

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Do you think she will apply to do it again.

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She would love to but unless Disney calls them back for summer, I’m not sure that she can. She would really mess up her college career.

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Love the photos and story! :slight_smile:

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She’s so cute!! I’m bummer I never did see her when I was in MK. I’m sorry guests yelled at her. :face_with_raised_eyebrow: That so awful, but yes, a learning experience.

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Thank you!

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