The Application
You'll be able to access the application for the DCP at the program's website, which is here. Once you get to the website just click the big green 'APPLY NOW' button, and there you go! However, if you reach this point and there is no link to an application for the College Program then you are either too early or late for that semester. In terms of the 2013 Springs semester, the application came out early morning September 6, 2012. For the Fall/FA semester the application launched on February 6, 2014.
In terms of what's on the application, it truly is your basic job app. It asks for your past work experience, which resort you'd prefer to work at (Disneyland or WDW), if you want to work Spring or Spring Advantage(or if going in the fall: Fall or Fall Advantage)*, what school you go to, how old you are.... you get the gist of it. However, what I believe is the m
ost important aspect of the application is your role choices. In the app, near the end, Disney will ask for you to rate the roles that you would feel comfortable working. Notice I didn't say that you are o.k. working, you need to feel comfortable working these roles. If you tell them that you have an interest in all of the roles, chances are you will end up with a job that you hate or did not want. My piece of advice: research the roles on the DCP website and right down a list of which roles you want in order of preference. This'll come in handy when you are actually applying because you may be really excited and think, "well, I know this role isn't on my list but if it gives me better chance to get in..." DON'T DO IT! I did, but was lucky enough to not receive that role and after I put in my application/and did my interview, I just kept thinking 'crap, I don't think I'd enjoy working that role'. However, I was lucky enough to have that not happen to me. (end rant!) Anyways, when you get to the role page you will rate each role as either: High Interest, Moderate Interest, Low Interest, or No Interest. Don't worry about not being able to give your top 3 role interests, your interview should ask you what your top 3 are during your phone interview.
Anyways, once you are done with the application you should receive an email that looks a little something like this...
Web-Based Interview
Okay, so the Web-Based Interview (WBI) was basically the thing that got me the most nervous throughout the whole application process! I read of people who have done the WBI 3 times and never passed, or was accepted to the DCP, was unable to do it and applied a different semester only to not pass the WBI. I got the email to take the WBI almost an hour after I submitted my application. I was expecting to get it immediately after I applied; however, I applied the day the app came out and Disney’s servers were running slow. Disney has changed the process of receiving a WBI now; not every applicant will receive a WBI. This can be extremely stressful but just trust the system and give the recruitment team time and allow the computers to process yours and several thousand other applicants information.
So the WBI is in all honesty an extremely basic model of figuring out if your personality and work ethic would mesh well with Disney’s work model, ethics, and morals. Disney says that the WBI can take up to 40 minutes; however, I only took 15… I think the 40 minute estimate is based off taking the entire time amount you have for each question. The questions that are asked on the WBI focus on your personality and how you react in certain situations. My piece of advice for the WBI is not to lie, and don't try to answer how you think Disney wants you to answer, because if you’re accepted and you get to DL or WDW and notice that you don’t agree with certain standpoints they have, you will be miserable.
Alright, so the end of the WBI--for me at least-- was super quick. One moment I was answering a question waiting for the next one, and the next thing I know I see this...
I was shocked, and so excited! It took me a moment to fully comprehend what I was looking at, but I had gotten to the next step!
The Phone Interview
Alright, so I'm just going to say that after the WBI my nervousness was gone. For some reason I just was not scared about the Phone Interview... until the day of (more on that later!).
When I finished the WBI, and was guided to the Phone Interview page I was extremely excited. Basically it just told me that Disney will send me an email allowing me to choose a time that would work best for me to schedule my phone interview! I got this email about 10 minutes after I finished my WBI. They gave me 4 days to choose from with several different time slots. I chose 10 a.m. MT on Monday, September 10th. (WARNING: Make sure your interview is under your time zone! If you don't put it under your time zone and choose 1 p.m. eastern time, while thinking it's 1 p.m. your time your going to have a surpise waiting for you...) Know that you can change your time for the phone interview if you need to. I, personally, would recommend doing it as soon as you know that you cannot take the phone interview at that time. In my case, Disney began phone interviews on Saturday the 8th, but there were no time slots available on the 8th. The earliest slot I could have gotten was Sunday the 9th in the late evening, I'm talking 8:30 p.m. my time which would be 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. I didn't want to run the chance of getting an exhausted interviewer who may have been a little cranky (this is my opinion, several people who had late interviews said that their interviewer seemed happy and enthusiastic about their application), so I set up my interview for the next day when I knew that I'd be awake and ready to go!
I waited 4 days for my phone interview, which isn't long compared to other applicants who had to wait a week+ for their's! Between that time though I got super prepared! A couple of weeks before hand a girl on the Spring 2013 facebook page posted a document that had all of the questions she could find that had been asked from various College Program Interviews. It is absolutely amazing (I can't post the document on here, because it is not mine; however, I will let you know some of the questions that I was asked)! If you can't find a document similar to this anywhere online, go to Disboards (click here) College Board forum. This forum can be extremely helpful when you're preparing for your interview because there are so many different threads that you can go to, which discuss the DCP.
Anyways, after 4 days of answering sample questions, creating follow-up questions, and making sure I knew what my top roles were, I was excited and ready to go!
9:30 am - Prepare for interview/ set up all of my papers do last minute revisions.
9:45 am - Mini freakout (Disney said they can call anywhere from 15 minutes before your scheduled time to 15 minutes after)
9:50 am - Mom's cell phone starts ringing, I freak out thinking it's my home phone or cell phone. Turn off her ringer and put it on the other side of the room (NO DISTRACTIONS hahaha)
9:59 am - staring at phone, make sure they are both charged, and sound is on.
10:00 am - Staring at phone
10:01 am - one minute late, staring at phone...
10:04 am - decide to start a Disney slideshow on my computer to calm me down
10:07 am - maybe I put in the wrong phone numbers?
10:09 am - o.k. calm down it hasn't been 15 minutes yet...
10:11 am - Why haven't they called?!?!?!
10:13 am - OMG I'm dying here!
10:14 am - the phone rings, blocked caller ID, lets do this!
My interview took 17 minutes overall, and my interviewer, Nancy, said that It'd probably take around 20 minutes. Here is the scenario:
- Answered the phone, and she asked if this was Kelsey, I said yes, and she let me know that her name was Nancy and she was with the Disney College Program Recruitment team.
- Asked if this was still a good time for me to interview, I said yes! (of course it was!!!!)
- We went over some basics: Do I have a valid Driver's license? You are applying for the Spring program at WDW not DL... etc. super basic stuff...
- (Now the juicy stuff....) Why do you want to do the DCP?
- What are you top 3 or 4 role choices?
- Can you elaborate on your past work experience, and how they would relate to your top role choices? (My top roles were Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique Hostess, Photopass Photographer, and Attractions)
- Are you a team player or do you prefer to work alone?
- How do you feel about working in the heat?
- If you were doing a task that was repetitive, how would you make it exciting?
- Have you ever lived in a dorm-setting? How would you handle a disagreement with roommates?
- Can you comply with the Disney look? Do you have any visible tattoos?
- How do you feel about speaking in front of large groups? (Attractions ?)
- Could you handle an emergency situation? Example? (Attractions ?)
- What would you do if a child were hesitant about going through with the makeover? (BBB ?)
- Do you have any previous experience doing professional camera work? (Photopass ?)
- Do you have any questions for me?
Waiting
Oh my goodness, the waiting was awful! I probably checked my dashboard at least five times everyday, and I would constantly check and see if anyone from the facebook group had gotten accepted yet. After a week no one had been accepted; however, that Tuesday the 18th people began getting emails saying 'Congratulations! You've been accepted....' I was not one of those people. Then Wednesday the 19th came, and at 12:19 pm MT, I had been accepted into the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World! I will admit there was crying and jumping and happiness and excitement and every simgle happy emotion there is in the world, I had it! Overall, I waited 9 days or a week and 2 days since my phone interview. However, I had been waiting 9+ years for this oppurtunity and I could not have been more excited to finally get this chance to work towards my dream with the Disney Company!
Quick Tips/Overview
WBI:
- Prepare yourself/no distractions
- Make sure you have enough time to take the WBI
- Don't rush!
- Answer truthfully!
- Prepare for it, know what your top roles are
- Dress comfortably (don't wear your skinny jeans that make you look great, but you can hardly breathe in them!)
- SMILE!
- Remember your interviewers name! (I had a pen ready to write her name down, so I'd remember it)
- Expect for them to call early or late (not on time!)
- Make sure you explain why this oppurtunity is so important to you!
- Be excited! You've got this! You are ready to rock this interview!
- When they say two weeks, they mean two weeks! Don't expect to have an answer within 24 hours. You just have to stay patient!
There it is, the application process! Be excited to apply because this is an oppurtunity of a lifetime!
*Click here to learn the difference between S, SA, F, and FA at Disneyland and Walt Disney World!
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