The Disney College Program is an internship program sponsored by The Walt Disney Company that allows college students and recent graduates to gain valuable, on-the-job experience working in Disney parks and resorts.
The only requirement is to be enrolled in college or a recent grad. You can apply for the program up until a year after you graduate.
Programs range in amount of time spent there based on when you are applying for. These are the options offered for the Walt Disney World College Program:
Yes, all participants are elligible to apply to extend their program up until a full year.
For example, say you are a Fall DCP Participant. You could extend your program for the following Spring. Then, if you wanted to, you could extend again into the Summer. But, you could not extend into the Fall again because you would pass a year.
There are 3 stages to the interview process:
This application asks basic general information questions. It will ask for personal information: address, phone number, education, etc. It will also ask for your previous work experience. The next section of the application will list out all of the roles and have you rank them from strongly interested to no interest.
The more roles you say you are interested in, the higher your chances are of moving on in the application process.
The online application is not read by a real recruitor, instead, a computer will scan it for keywords. Therefore, when you describe your previous work experience, it is good to use words you think Disney would like to hear.
The WBI is essentially a timed multiple choice quiz. It will put you in hypothetical situations and have you choose how you would act. Disney operates on Four Keys: Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency--in that order. When in doubt, answer based on what option sounds the safest.
If you made it through the first two stages, the phone interview is the last one. This will be the only time you actually speak to a recruitor.
They will ask you questions based on the application you filled out. They'll want to know why you want to work for Disney and what roles you think you are best suited for. They also might ask you to describe times when you handled an unhappy guest or how you would handle a lost, screaming child in the park.
Reflect on your previous work experience before the interview and think about Disney's brand. They operate very differently than most companies do, so think about how they would want you to react. It is also a good idea to reference your recruitor by their name. Disney loves names!
If you don't make it to the phone interview, your application home page will change your application status to 'No Longer in Consideration' (NLIC). If you make it to the phone interview, the DCP sends out acceptance and rejection emails in waves. What this means is hundred of people will be accepted or denied on the same day. You could hear back the same week of your phone interview or months later. The DCP will post a date that you will hear back by. It is usually about a month after applications close. You could hear your results any time between your phone interview and the last day to hear back.
You will have two days to accept you offer, so make sure you are activiely checking your email. Your offer will include your program time frame and the role you have been offered. You will also have one week to pay your program fees. This will cover your first rent payment and other processing fees.
Disney offers four different housing complexes for College Program participants, or you could find your own place. The rent in the housing complexes is about $400 a month, and Disney will take about $100 out of your paycheck every week for rent.
This website claims no official ongoing relationship with The Walt Disney Company