The First Draft

After I wrote my first update and posted it to this page, I knew that I would be writing this post. As a matter of fact, I started writing this post. A lot of people wonder about the Disney College Program. What do we do? What is it like? Before programs start, applicants scour the internet looking for information from participants. Was it fun? Was it worth it? Were the hours awful? So this post is for them, as well as the people who have been following and supporting me through this process! I wouldn’t say it’s the truth about the DCP, but I would say it’s my truth.

People write a lot about the DCP. Most of the people you talk to will say, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” and a lot of people will tell you “just remember, it won’t all be good”. And they’re really right to say that. For me, I had to come to accept that it’s okay to cry when you tell your friends and family goodbye, it’s okay to sit in a gas station quietly telling yourself “it’s going to be okay,” it’s okay to sob on the way back to the hotel after you drop your mom off at the airport. It’s okay to feel negative emotions and associate them with the DCP before it’s even started. After all, it is kind of crazy. You leave home for four to seven months, with no guarantee that you’ll get time off when you want, be able to visit home or be able to have friends come visit you. It’s okay to be tired, upset, or anxious.

Before I left, a very good friend hugged me and said, “You’ll have fun at Disney”. I knew he was right, but I was still worried. Worried that I wouldn’t get linked to room with Sarah, worried that I’d hate my job or be homesick. More than anything, I was worried that I pushed too far this time. More than anything, I don’t like uncertainty. It makes me anxious, and I hate that. Disney doesn’t tell you what apartment complex you’re living in or where you’re working until about a week before you’re scheduled to arrive. You get to your complex, find out what apartment set up you have (how many people per bedroom, how many people total), and then you slowly start to find out what you’re going to be doing. You don’t find out who your roommates are until you literally walk through the door. You could see that there’s a lot of uncertainty in that.

I applied for the Disney College Program on a whim. I didn’t really know much about it, and I certainly didn’t realize how competitive it was. When I got to the phone interview step, I didn’t realize that was a big deal until I talked to people who did know about the program. That’s about when I told my mom I had applied. Then I received an offer mid-September and accepted right away. It sounded great at first, but as it got closer, I started to worry more about what exactly I was doing. After all, what if in trying to get over my fear of uncertainty, I pushed too far? After all, this is four months in Florida, a state I’ve never been to, working in Walt Disney World, a place I’ve never been, living with people I have never met before.

Walking into the apartment for the first time was an experience. But I wasn’t actually nervous, once I got here. Then Sarah got her apartment number, which matched mine, and that was another thing I didn’t need to worry about anymore. Almost immediately, I noticed that I’m not having problems with some of the things I normally don’t like doing, like asking random people where the heck my apartment is or talking to random people at bus stops. I was still worried, but the first day when I was thinking about everything, I kept hearing “You’ll have fun in Disney” in my head, and I knew he was right. My roommates were really cool, I’m sharing a room with Sarah, and I’m going to be okay.

The rest of that week was really slow. I had Casting on Tuesday, the Housing Welcome on Wednesday, and then nothing until Traditions on Saturday. We visited Disney Springs and some of the resorts. I bought my first set of mouse ears and ate my first dole whip. We went to a housing event, and I met my first character. We went to Downtown Orlando and watched the fireworks over Cinderella’s Castle from the Polynesian. After Traditions, I got to spend some time in Epcot, where I would be working, and meet some characters.

Then, work started! I would say training started, but I was scheduled for work before I was scheduled for training, so we kind of went out of order. I wasn’t sure I liked the job, but the people were great! I liked my coworkers from the beginning, and the location itself wasn’t terribly stressful. AND I was finally getting paid. There was less time for fun, but it was a necessary evil. After all, without the job I wouldn’t have been able to come down here. I did get trained eventually, and ended up working primarily in the kitchen. That sounds like the least glamorous job ever, and it really is. BUT we were backstage. That means that we got to goof around and have fun (as long as we got our work done). That’s not to say that there weren’t bad days, because there definitely were. In fact, we weren’t even a month in before I nearly cried by the fryers. An escape plan was put into place should I decide to self-term, and that was that. But the thing that made it hard for me to say, “This isn’t worth it, I’m ready to go,” were the people that I met. I may have thought to myself, “Wow, I decided to do this instead of get a job with that degree I just got?” but I didn’t really want to leave. Not really. I was tired and upset and frustrated, but I didn’t actually want to leave. After all, it was nearly a month in. Only three more to go, right? Three more months to get to know the people around me. Three more months to explore the parks. Three more months to take advantage of the things that I had, even if it wasn’t exactly everything that I had hoped for when I decided to accept my offer for the program.

I’m really glad that I stayed. After all, the beginning was nothing. There was a whole lot more good, and quite a bit more bad mixed in there. I would go home burned and bruised, covered in grease from the burger broiler, and honestly it sucked. One day half the kitchen went down during a storm, and that was an overall interesting experience. But the people ALWAYS made it worth it. The leaders, the coordinators, the other workers in the kitchen. After all, we were family. We spent hours and hours together every day at work, and on our days off we DECIDED to be together. My burns may still be healing, and I may have hated taking my earrings out every day before work, but in the end it was so very worth it. I made friends that will last a life time, and I know I’ll never forget my time in Disney World. I may even try to go back as a pass holder or an employee, whichever happens first. And I’m definitely going to try to go back to Universal before my annual pass is up.

So to the parents or cousins or uncles’ of someone who wants to do the program, support them! They will learn so much, about Disney, the world, and most importantly, about themselves. Support can make a huge difference in their experiences. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen on DCP Facebook pages talking about how their parents thought it was silly, so they didn’t think they could go. They are only young once, and you don’t want to stand in the way of them doing something they’ve dreamed about. And to my friends who want to do a program, do it! Because you’ll definitely have fun at Disney.