My time at the Disney College Program

From the end of last August to the beginning of February of the beginning of this year, I was involved in the Disney College Program.

In March of 2022, I saw an advertisement appear on my screen appear for the Florida based program. The program had restarted as a result of the pandemic ending it, and the big deal was that the housing was moving to a place called Flamingo Crossings Village, which is a state of the art housing complex for the participants of the program.

Over that summer, I decided to read up on the history of Disney in general.

Some of the things that I came across that were crucial parts of the history of Mickey Mouse's company:

- Walt Disney saw that in many amusement parks many of the rides would be height restricted, and wanted to create a place where parents and their kids could enjoy.

- Once the Disneyland park in Anaheim, opened, the park was actually far from being done, and Walt had to pay off loans he took out to pay off the cost.

- Even though he died before Walt Disney World opened in 1971, Walt got to visit the Florida site where the current park is today.

A few weeks before starting the program, I found out I would be working in Outdoor Vending in Magic Kingdom. This entailed that would be selling snacks like pretzels, popcorn, and ice cream.

On Saturday August 22nd, I left New York and would not return again until February 9th of this past year.

When I arrived at Florida that evening, I was taken aback at how humid the place was and I was certainly not ready for it to be humid even a few weeks before Christmas.

I also realized that this would not be a normal fall for me. As I did make it to two high school football games down in Florida, I would not be able to get to a single Stepinac game, nor get to be in New York as the Giants had their first winning season in six years.

On Sunday August 23rd, I got to explore the Orlando area for the first time. I went to Publix, a chain supermarket found down South, known for their Pub Subs.

I also got to go to Disney Springs where I would see various clothing companies that had a store in the resort, and the various restaurants with many different cuisines.

The next day I moved into the Flamingo East Village Crossings residential complex, which was my new home for the next six months.

My roommate was Ike Bell, an Oregon native, who worked in Galaxy's Edge in Hollywood Studios. Across the hall was Marcos Diaz, a Puerto Rico native who worked at Pecos Bill in Magic Kingdom, and Will Misiak, a Texas native who worked as a tram driver in the Magic Kingdom parking lot.

I realized that unlike SUNY Cortland and SUNY New Paltz, there would not be just people from Buffalo or Long Island, but from all parts of the United States, and many countries of the world.

Flamingo Village Crossing has a bus system that would take you to every park and resort. There was also a bus that would take you to a large Target, where you would see multiple college program members at any part ofd the day.

For me to get to orientation, I went to the "costuming" area and several other "cast members", and I took a bus to the tunnels under Cinderella's castle.

The tunnel system in Cinderella's castle is larger than that of any collegiate or professional sports team in the United States.

Disney was very particular about where you wore your costume, and if you went into a location that you were not in the right costume for, you could be fired right then and there.

For example, if you work in Tomorrowland, and arrive at the Winnie the Pooh ride out of costume, you could possible lose your job.

Disney was all about keeping the magic, and was willing to go any lengths to do so.

The first few weeks of being in Outdoor Vending went alright. I got to meet people from all over the country and discuss college football if they were wearing the shirt of a big football school.

I then realized I was probably better off working in a smaller location, where all the job functions were centralized to that one location. Outdoor Vending got very hectic, because from time to time jt was disorganized, and people often got blamed for things out of their control, which many found difficult to deal with.

After requesting to transfer, I got sent to the Mara, a quick service restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

At the Animal Kingdom Lodge, whether you work, or are a guest, you will be educated about the continent of Africa, and there are many sayings in different African languages posted on the walls.

Working at the Mara for me was sort of like working at Nathan's Famous. You would either open and put out, or close and out away the different necessities and tools to operate the restaurant.

I got to meet many great people, including, Allison, the proprietor, Amber, the proprietor of Kiko, Chefs Marco and Eddie, my leaders Nikki, Ryan, Mike, and Joe, and my coordinators, such as Ryan, Carlyn, Tanya, and Ben.

While some times were frustrating, even at the Mara, in the end I made it to the end of my program, even while wanting to quit on on several occasions.

One thing I can say about the Disney College Program, and not many people can say this, is that I have gotten to walk through Magic Kingdom at night, with no one there.

At Disney, they have a saying "You are the magic." I was grateful to bring magic to so many people while being a cast member at Disney World.