Two weeks ago I woke up in a hotel room 1,000 miles away from home, eager to begin the latest and most exciting chapter in my young adult life. We can rewind for a second, I know that when you’re 18 and headed off to college, that seems to be the most exciting or scary or biggest change in your life. But I am newly 21 and just got the internship of a lifetime—a secure spot in the extremely coveted internship at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
When I was a kid, my mother would take my sister and me every-other-year on vacation to Florida. Sometimes we would stay in Kissimmee, sometimes we would stay in Celebration and sometimes we would stay in Clermont, but the one thing that remained constant is that we always went to Disney World each time. I grew up watching Disney movie classics and the Disney Channel, frequented the parks, met the life-size Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and all the other famous characters—working at the most magical place on earth was my dream for a very long time. I’ve also always loved Florida; when we visited family around the Palm Beach area, I never wanted to leave.
One day I was playing around on my computer, knowing that I would need to get an internship for graduation credit, and was feeling lost about what I wanted to do. My aspirations and goals have changed more times than I can count—from being a psychologist, to business owner, to wanting to go to law school, to wanting to buy the store I work for, but ultimately, the long term goal was to end up in Florida, working for Disney. I used to joke with my mom that I was going to run away with my dog and get a part time or full time jobs at the park—little did I know I would end up here. But on this ordinary day I accidentally stumbled across the Disney College Program, a prestigious internship that allowed a college student to move onto Disney Property in either Orlando, Florida, or Anaheim, California, for college credit while also being paid. I thought to myself, why didn’t I know about this sooner!? I immediately put myself in for the Florida location, but I did select both to keep my options open and enhance my chances.
The application process was unusual, but above all, stressful. You first are to fill out your basic background history, but, the applications are only accepted for a period of time two times a year. You are then placed in one of the most tumultuous waiting games ever: It’s exciting, it’s confusing and it’s disorderly—you could apply the exact same day and time as someone else, and your application could be completely overlooked and another’s accepted the next day. There was no way to see what order you were in, if anyone had looked you paperwork or if you were going to even get a ‘next step.’ I applied for the program twice. In late March 2015, my application wasn’t really acknowledged. I blame it on me applying too late, as applications closed on April 13 and many people had applied beginning in January. The next time, in late September 2015, the day after, I applied, I was able to get a phone interview. The steps are as follows: your initial inquiry, a web-based interview and then the light at the end of the tunnel is the phone interview. The web-based interview is a 90-minute long questionnaire that encompassed a variety of situations in which you were asked to say what you would do in that situation plus some other self-rated traits (i.e., time-management skills, level of understanding of basic math, etc).
I forgot to mention, there’s also not a place for you to submit your résumé. Instead, on your phone interview, you are asked to just describe your work history. Despite that, an FBI-grade background check is conducted to establish that you aren’t a crazy person (joking), but it was very interesting to see where Disney’s priorities.
It took me two months to complete the application process, and after a bit of confusion with the scheduling of my phone interview, on November 5, 2015, I got the email that outlined I was accepted for a role in Merchandise at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida for the spring 2016 program. My dates were February 1 through June 2. I immediately accepted and began the hunt for my roommates. Disney offered housing to its interns, and there were four complexes to choose from, all offering different amenities. I linked with three other girls via Facebook and we all set our preferences to be together in a certain housing complex. The housing policy was that you weren’t guaranteed to be with who you linked, and you weren’t guaranteed to be in the housing complex you picked first. We all acknowledged that we might get an extra roommate or two (Disney had two-person occupancy in each bedroom, and sometimes they had three-person occupancy, so there was chance we could have more people in a bedroom than we would have liked) or that we wouldn’t be in our first choice, but we were willing to take the risk. Disney also doesn’t tell you until the day you check in where you are going to be living or working. When I say waiting game, I wasn’t just talking about waiting to hear whether you were accepted or rejected.
As it turned out, we were all fortunate enough to be linked with each other, with the exception of two bonus roommates. We blamed it on our later-than-usual arrival date; the first arrival date was January 11, followed by every Monday for the next month and a half after that. We were in our second-choice housing complex, but instead of getting an extra bedroom for those other two roommates, we were a little disappointed to learn we would be in a two-bedroom, triple occupancy apartment. I was lucky enough to check in first, at the ripe hour of 7:30 am on Monday, February 1, and was able to be first in the apartment. I secured a bigger bedroom, a single bed (instead of the bunk bed) and the bigger bathroom. The other girls who arrived last were a little upset, but it was fair because of the order. So far, we have all gotten along very well and done our best to make the white-wall drab apartment home. We’ve perused every T.J. Maxx, Walmart and Marshall’s in the whole county looking for decoration and have done our best to make this small apartment livable for the next four months. Six girls and two bathrooms almost seems impossible until you’re doing it.
I was placed in Hollywood Studios, the smallest of the four Walt Disney theme parks. I had accepted my role in merchandise, which meant I could be put in any of the shops or boutiques in any park, or even in any of the hotel gift shops or in the Disney Springs area, which the dining and shopping district of Disney. I was excited to learn where I was, and was secretly a little thankful I wasn’t placed in the chaotic land that is Magic Kingdom, which is notorious for crazy hours, (sometimes) dreadfully long shifts and extra magic hours and almost-always holiday-time levels of busy. My park was quieter, the hours were shorter and the stores were smaller. All of my roommates and I, with the exception of two, are in different parks. One is at Animal Kingdom, one is at the Coronado Springs resort and convention center, two are at Magic Kingdom (in food service, bless), and the last one is at Disney Springs, the downtown shopping and dining area of Disney. I thought it was interesting that we would all have different schedules and locations, so we could all show each other around on our days off. Also, I thought it would be nice if sometimes we weren’t all home at the same time since we were all on such different schedules. It gave others times for privacy to call home or sleep.
I feel like I’m adjusting well, and my training has gone by smoothly. Disney throws you into the fire, almost, but before then they give you some fire-proof equipment. You begin your Disney Journey at Traditions, an orientation-esque seminar that teaches you about the traditions and legacy of the Walt Disney Company, from humble beginnings to corporate domination. You learn next more about your role in the park, as a cast member and as part of a community of workers who are so famous, they make the company one of the most coveted to work for. Then, you begin your location training with a walking tour of your park AND a behind-the-scenes look of Magic Kingdom and where you will be working—but the Magic Kingdom tour involves the underground Utilidoor tunnels (!!!!). The last two weeks have been jam-packed with new experiences and many hands-on approaches to working with guests and other cast members—we don’t have employees or customers. We are a company of entertainment and show, which are some of the most important Keys we must remember, other than Safety, Courtesy and Efficiency.
I can only imagine where this journey will take me; I can move on from here to a professional internship within the corporate facilities themselves (which 9/10 times requires a college program completion) or I could use this to fuel my job search when I return home to graduate and help me land a full-time job. All I know is these next four months are crucial to my future. Over 30,000 students apply to the college program twice annually. Only about 3-4,000 get in. With an acceptance rate of about 11%, I couldn’t be more proud of myself.
I can’t wait to see where I am in June!
Kayla Jones is from Wallingford, CT and is a senior at Albertus Magnus College, studying Business Marketing. She is currently located in Orlando, Florida and is completing an internship through the Disney College Program for the spring 2016 semester—Her dream job and place to live!