My Disney College Program was a whirlwind of emotions and activity, and no matter how many times I try to put it into words, I always fall short. So here's an attempt to put my College Program into pictures AND words!
You will first join the Facebook page (Disney College Program Spring/Spring Advantage (Fall/Fall Advantage) 20**) and at first everything is dandy, everyone is super excited. Then everyone just wants you to follow them on Instagram, start drama over literally nothing, and talk about how they want to find their true love on the program.
When you're waiting for applications to drop for MONTHS in advance, and they FINALLY go live. Frantic, panicked movements and/or screaming may result.
You pass your initial application and web-based interview and it's 20 minutes until your interviewer is scheduled to call. Panic sets in and you resort to all possible superstitions you have ever been guilty of...
You have survived the phone interview and obsessively check your email for an acceptance (yes, starting 30 seconds after you hang up the phone). You lose hope when the first acceptance wave rolls around and you're not in it so you start wishing on every star in the sky.
You receive this email you never thought you'd get and the happy/relieved/overwhelmed tears leak out. People think someone has died and attempt to comfort you. At this point approximately 2% of applicants can speak through the happy tears, so some sort of charades may be required.
Your acceptance postcard FINALLY comes and this is all you can do with it.
It's time to start packing and you want to bring everything and the kitchen sink. HOWEVER, you get incredibly overwhelmed in about 3 seconds and enlist your mom's help.
You finally get to check-in, it all sinks in, and suddenly all the anticipation that's been building for months hits you like a brick. A solid mix of excitement, anticipation, nerves, and a little bit of fear sets in!
A few days in the Florida humidity, and this is every new CP.
You start to realize the amount of walking required to be a CP and rediscover those things called LEGS, and put them back to work.
Traditions rolls around and this is all you can keep saying.
Training begins at your work location, but you're still so excited you're at Disney World you can't stop impersonating this meme.
You finish your first 12 hour shift with your new coworkers and you don't remember what it's like to have energy.
You always thought this was a stereotype, but when you spend 10 minutes in Disney, see the flags, and hear the chanting, you know it's very real.
You spend your days off at Hollywood Studios and learn to avoid Toy Story Midway Mania at all costs unless you have somehow wrangled a fast pass.
You survive the toughest days at work, the days where nothing seems to go right. However, you quickly learn that the great days of work far outnumber the bad.
You quickly learn that only the multi-taskers survive working at Disney.
You encounter guests that only know how to speak in aggression, but put on the Disney smile anyway (even if you're replying to them sassily in your head).
You have guests that make magical moments for you, and those moments make all the difficult days completely worth it.
You might work in a park that permanently closed an attraction but has yet to take it off the map (like me), and spend 80% of your time explaining to guests why that attraction cannot be found (shoutout to Backlot Tours).
You've been to Epcot so many times that you are convinced that you're a world traveler.
And every time you go to Animal Kingdom you still want to adopt all of the animals and take them home to your apartment.
You want to go to the parks in the morning on your day off, but forget to set an alarm.
You keep seeing famous people at work but can't react appropriately because it's against the Disney Cast Member way.
You see Wishes dozens of times throughout your program, but it never fails to make you choke up (or cry like a baby).
Your last day of work comes and it feels like just yesterday you were moving in. All you want to do is rewind time and do everything again because you had the most magical semester(s).
You say your goodbyes to your coworkers and their pep talks sound something like the below photo.
It hits you that you only have one day left in the parks with your Disney Ohana, but you refuse to acknowledge that small fact and are in complete denial.
Your last night in Magic Kingdom is coming to an end, you keep trying to leave the park but you just can't, your feet turn around on their own accord and wander back toward the castle.
You see other CPs who have extended their programs, or happy guests at the beginning of their vacations and you offer them the below words of wisdom.
You finally say goodbye to your roommates, coworkers, and friends, and tears are NOT in short supply. They have been your family for the past 4-12 months (depending on your program), and your heart is so full of love and sadness.
You see this sign for the last time and it hits you that you're really leaving.
You arrive home and your family can't figure out why you seem so sad. Your Post-Disney Depression might break Baymax's pain scale. Of course you're excited to see your home again, but it lasts about two days before PDD sets in.
The Disney withdrawals are so real; you will spend some (many) days going through old photos and videos and wishing you were back at Disney.
This question will be asked every time you talk about Disney (alongside whether or not you were a Disney princess). Enough said.
Finally, people will ask you if you're glad you did the Disney College Program. You will look back at the professional experience you got, networking opportunities taken advantage of, playing in the parks that never failed to make you smile, magical moments made for amazing families, and most importantly, the family you made down there, and know that doing the Disney College Program was one of the best decisions you have ever made.
