If many of you didn’t know by now, I spent last semester doing the Disney College Program. You might be wondering what the Disney College Program, or DCP, is. The Disney College Program is an internship where you get the opportunity to work at Disneyland in Anaheim, California or at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. For my Disney College Program, I worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando and the park I worked in was the Magic Kingdom. This program was nothing short of magical. I am here to tell you how much this program meant to me.
I have dreamt of this moment ever since I was a kid and then when the day arrived to move to Orlando, I was scared beyond belief. I was nervous about working for a place that I cherished as a child and as an adult and now I finally had the opportunity to work there. You know the feeling of how you don’t want to screw up and make a fool of yourself, that was an every day occurrence for me. I want to say thank you to everyone that trained me at my location, made me feel at ease after my first week of training and became part of the work family.
This program is truly what you make it and I say this because there are some that are miserable by the end of it. The thing that got me through the tough parts of my program was the Liberty Squad. This squad consisted of all the DCP participants that I worked with. We worked in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom and our role was Quick Service Food and Beverage. I am so grateful to have met these wonderful human beings and they have truly blessed my life. They made going to work and working long shifts fun and exciting. From the inside jokes at work and playing in the parks on our days off, they are my Ohana and made my DCP that much better. You also make friends outside of your working location and I am thankful to have met Michelle on my DCP. The adventures in the parks with the squad or Michelle make me miss them that much more since my program ended.
You have so many opportunities on your DCP, utilize all these opportunities to your advantage to make your program full of magic and memories. One of the perks of doing the DCP is getting complimentary park admission to Walt Disney World and other select Disney parks worldwide. You better believe that I spent my days off going to the park and riding rides or going to new restaurants and trying new foods. Just like college housing, Disney housing sponsored exclusive events for us like character meet and greets, movies, games and trips. I wish I could talk more about my experience with the DCP, but I’m going to make it short, sweet and to the point. I truly loved having the opportunity to work for Walt Disney World for the last five months and I'm truly blessed that I met everybody along the way of my magical journey through the DCP. I hope one day soon that I will be a Cast Member again, maybe the DCP Fall/Advantage 2017 program? Who knows?
