So You Want To Work for Disney? How To Apply To Work At The Happiest Place On Earth

The Disney College Program, 2014 & 2017

     

Twice in my life I have had the pleasure of working for The Walt Disney World Company. My first college program (or internship) with Disney at ESPN Wide World of Sports was in the spring of 2014 when I took a semester off from school and moved down to Orlando for five months. The second program happened in 2017 at The Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom.

My costume during my first college program at ESPN Wide World of Sports

My costume during my second program at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom 2017

                                             

I first heard about the Disney College Program when I was a senior in high school. I had just graduated and was visiting Walt Disney World as a graduation present with my aunt. After a short conversation with a cast member about her journey, I knew that working for Disney was in my future. As I headed off to college I had Disney on the brain and shortly after my first semester I started applying for the Disney College Program.

The interview process goes something like this..

You have to be enrolled in an accredited college to be able to apply. To be considered as a "student" you must be taking at least one class. Choose a semester that you want to go and apply for the program a semester ahead. There are a couple different options you can apply for when applications drop. In the fall you can apply for Spring and Spring Advantage programs and in the spring you can apply for Fall and Fall Advantage programs. Spring is January-May, Spring Advantage is January-August, Fall is August-January and Fall Advantage is May-January. For example if you want to do the Spring program like I did, I applied in September and was accepted in October to start in January that following year. You can sign up for emails to be alerted when applications drop as well. Once you a have picked a desired semester and applications open up, it is a three step process to be accepted, as follows:

1. You apply online at Disney's official website
2. Take a web based interview answering multiple choice questions
3. A phone interview is conducted with a recruiter from Disney

Each step is contingent on the results of the previous one and unfortunately it took me a couple of tries to pass the web based interview. While I heard this was unusual, I was a freshman in college with not much job application experience since I had the same job my entire high school career. However, my best advice for the entire interview process is to just be yourself. Let your passion and excitement for working for Disney shine through and they will be able to tell when it is legitimate.

Since you may only apply once every recruiting period, or about every 6 months, it was not until my third semester of college that I was accepted into my first program. To this day I do not regret being made to wait an extra year because if I hadn't completed my first program when I did I would not have met the amazing people I still speak to today. Especially my partner in crime and best friend, Raven Aurand. Little did I know that needing a roommate at Disney would lead to the incredible friendship we have today!

Raven and I during our program outside our apartment

I will be doing separate posts about once you are accepted and what to expect but for now enjoy some pictures of my first program!

When I was scheduled to work at Magic Kingdom at Peco's Bill QSFB

Attending one of the cast member exclusive parties during my program

My name tag and hat that I received on my first day of work

With my good friend Sarah on our last day

Raven and I with our graduation ears and costumes on at the end of our program

To anyone reading this, all positive and constructive opinions are welcome! Disclaimer: I am by no means a professional at writing or vacation planning so if you read my blogs or take my advice do so with a grain of salt.