The "happiest place on Earth" made me the most miserable person on Earth. I applied for the Disney College Program earlier this year and shockingly got accepted to work at Disney World. I had never even been to Disney, and I was going to work there. From watching all the classic movies to watching new ones come out to playing with the toys to meeting the characters in real life, Disney had always been apart of my childhood and I've had nothing but good things come from Disney. But when I landed in Florida, it was nothing like I expected.
I wasn't really sure what to expect; never been on a plane, never been to Florida, never had a real job, and never been so far from my family for so long. It was a lot of firsts, and I did the research, but I truly had no idea what to expect. Reminding myself of all the research I did and reminding myself what an amazing opportunity it was, I figured it was just a rough patch and I'd be fine once I started to get used to everything. That never happened.
At Traditions, which is orientation for new cast members, I felt as if we were joining a cult. It was like you had to drink the Kool-Aid in order to become Disney-ized. I was not raised to drink the Kool-Aid. I was raised to think for myself, and I thought that it was ridiculous. The way that we had to act, look, and behave was all a show; your opinion did not and does not matter. You are a cast member, nothing more and nothing less. That's not how I was raised to be treated.
From the way cast members were treated to my role to not having friends to not having my family nearly pushed me over the edge and I hadn't even begun working yet. To be fair, I went to work with an open mind and tried being optimistic. But standing in the Florida heat for hours on end outside with a little fan and a small water bottle wasn't helping. All of that mixed with my emotions made me faint, literally. I fainted first day on the job. To give it another chance, I tried to change roles. They said that since I was in the DCP, I was at the bottom of the list and what role I got is the one I had to stick with unless there was a medical excuse. It was nearly impossible for me to stay due to all of the complications and at that point I had enough and left.
Don't let my experience influence you to not do the program. I wish that I had a better experience, but I wasn't for me. I want to show people how hard the program can be for some people, and if you're up for the challenge, I encourage you to do it. However, I wanted to show you my struggle there. But just because I had a bad experience doesn't mean that everyone will. However, I feel that everyone should see both sides of a story and then make a decision. I don't hate Disney, I hate the experience I had. They did not make me faint. They did not make me homesick. They did not not let me make friends. They were doing their job, but I wasn't raised to be someone who drinks the Kool-Aid.
