You've Got a Friend In Me

Friends are the best part of the Disney College Program. I would not have lasted for my whole program if I did not make friends. I would have become too stressed and packed up and went home early.

Okay, maybe I am being melodramatic. The program is not that hard but it is definitely easier and a lot more fun with a good group of friends.

There is such a diverse group of people that work on the College Program and for Disney World in general that it is very easy to make friends. People you live by, people you work with and people you meet on the bus can relate to you because they are all going through the same things.

• For me, it was easy to make friends with the people I lived around first. They are some of the first people you meet and you are always around them. You try to get to know them quickly since you will be seeing them almost everyday.

• The people I worked with took a little longer to become friends with. At the Jungle Cruise you have to prove how good a skipper you are going to be. Most skippers who have been there for awhile will be friendly but not overly accepting until they have worked with you for awhile. Mike, the skipper in the Jungle Cruise link above, was one of those people. When I started he didn't try and get to know me until we had worked together a lot. We are now great friends. Eventually everyone gets accepted as a "skip." Some of my best friends are from all over the world that I worked with at the Jungle. People from all over America, England, Australia, Bolivia and Portugal, just to name a few. On the College Program we would hang out on all the time at each other's apartments, or we would rent a cabin at Disney's Fort Wilderness. Our group of friends looked a lot like the kids on "It's a Small World."

                                          A metaphorical picture of my Jungle Cruise friends

• Finally, the last group I made friends with were people I rode home with on the bus. I've said before how closely packed the buses are, especially at night, so you get very close to the people you sit or stand beside. I made one really close friend while riding the bus home after work. We still keep in touch.

Final advice: make friends on the CP! They will be some of your closest friends and will greatly improve your experience at Disney.

"Speed"

In the movie "Speed," a bus is rigged with a bomb that will explode if it goes below 50 mph. The bus weaves dangerously in and out of traffic. This movie comes to mind every time I see an American Coach bus. Some of the drivers make you wonder if you are going to get off the bus alive.

Disney World uses its own bus system to transport guests to Orlando's international airport plus everywhere on Disney property. The College Program, however, employs a bus company to transport CP's to and from work, restaurants and Wal-Mart. This company is American Coach. They are not owned by Disney so they can hire less than desirable people to drive the buses.

The American Coach bus system in theory serves an excellent purpose. They provide free transportation for College Program castmembers who neither brought their own vehicle nor have friends who did. If at all possible, BRING YOUR OWN VEHICLE! The buses are free but they are also late, overcrowded and time consuming.

If you do not have your own vehicle, you must put up with the hassle of waiting for the American Coach buses late at night when you get off work. Full time castmembers joke that "CP" stands for "close park." You believe it when you see over one hundred CP's waiting to catch a bus home at the end of the day.

The buses are on a schedule and come through approximately every 15 to 20 minutes. They fill up quick. One night there were so many CP's trying to ride the bus that I watched three different buses fill up and drive away before I was finally able to get on.

American Coach is somewhat of a joke among Disney castmembers. They are their own company hired by Disney to transport CP's to and from their apartments. Since they are not owned by Disney, they can hire less than desirable people to drive the buses. Disney's transportation castmembers do not get along with them.

At the Magic Kingdom, every castmember has to take a short bus trip from the parking lot (West Clock) to the opening of the Utilidor (better known as the Tunnels). The American Coach buses drop CP's off at West Clock, at the pick up spot of the "VIP Castmember" bus.

 
The full- and part time castmembers groan when they see the American Coach bus pull in and release the crowd of CP's that makes its way over to the VIP bus. It makes for one crowded bus ride.

So if you are planning on becoming a College Program castmember and want to increase your speed, bring your own vehicle. You will get where you are going quicker and with less headaches.

Dating and Other Romantic Advice

If you want to work on being suave, smooth and sophisticated the Disney College Program is the perfect place to practice. Ever been to church camp or any other summer camp? Then you know what it is like: you pick out a specific person, get to know her and try to date in a short amount of time. The CP is the exact same way.

Some people go on the program single and others leave a significant other back home. My biggest piece of advice is be single. You can hang out and have fun with members of the opposite sex without feeling guilty. If you do have a girlfriend back home, end it before you leave (on good terms) and when you get back you might be able to date her again. This may not be ideal and there is a very good chance it will blow up in your face, but if you can pull it off it may work out great in the long run.

I left a girlfriend back home when I went on my CP and decided we could stay together while I was in Florida. Big mistake. Not only are long distance relationships awful in the first place but it is much worse when you work with members of the opposite sex and develop close friendships with them while you are in a long distance relationship. Your girlfriend does not want to constantly hear about all the inside jokes you have with five girls from work. Trust me, it does not go over well.

If you are single on the CP the best thing to do is have fun (but maybe not too much). If your thing is hanging out in groups, make friends at work and with your roommates. Disney is designed for groups to have fun. Go to downtown Orlando, putt-putt golf or watch a movie. These ideas normally work out pretty well unless you have some lame friends.

If you prefer one-on-one dates there are numerous romantic things to do and places to go. For example, watch fireworks from the Polynesian Resort beach while eating soft serve pineapple ice cream. It is amazing.

Class

When you think of Disney World you might think of Mickey Mouse, fireworks and little girls wearing tiaras. Now try to think of Disney World as class, professors and homework. It puts it in perspective.

https://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/students/education/edu_collegiate.html

Some students worry if they go on the College Program they will fall behind at school. This could be true. If a student goes on the CP and just works at their assigned job they will miss out on college credit. But if a student goes on the CP and registers for collegiate courses through the program (s)he will stay on track for graduation.

The DCP education department is certified by the American Council on Education (ACE) and offers around eight collegiate courses for college credit. Although some do not, many campuses accept ACE for credit.

I was attending Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., when I enrolled and was accepted into the CP. They require their students to maintain a full time student course load (12 hours) while doing the program. Luckily the College Program counts as six credit hours so I only needed to take two three hour classes. Disney offers classes that are great for anyone majoring in business, communication or hospitality. The Education department employees teachers who have worked a number of years for the Disney Corporation and can offer real world experience to the students.

The classes I enrolled in were Corporate Communication and Marketing You. I was scheduled two days off from work and each of those days I attended a three hour lecture. Corporate Communication was a fun and challenging class that dealt mostly with public relations and inter-company relations using Disney as the model. Marketing You sought to build a personal marketing plan and improve our resume. Both courses were similar to a typical college class. There was homework, papers, projects, group discussions and other stuff. The main difference was we had to dress in business casual and wear our nametags. (This sucked because nobody wants to spend three hours of their day dressed up while the beach is calling their name.)

These courses not only added to the number of college credit hours I already had but also added knowledge to the experience I gained at work. I remember both teachers and even some of the stuff they taught me. I strongly recommend enrolling in at least one class and sticking it out until the end. It will feel like time wasted until you are in a professional setting and put to use some of the things you learned.