College Program Might Return to Disney World in 2021
The Disney College Program was a popular topic during the 2021 shareholder meeting, with CEO Bob Chapek asked several questions about DCP. In this post, we’ll share his answers and recap what has happened with the College Program over the last year. (Updated March 11, 2021.)
During the question & answer portion of the shareholder meeting, someone asked Chapek if there were any details about when students would be able to apply for the Disney College Program (DCP). He stated that while there is not a specific date or timeline yet, Disney is hoping for the DCP to return in the future once guest capacity constraints are eased.
Chapek continued, “as you know, the whole College Program was put on hold, but the College Program is a tremendous asset. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we will be back in business with our College Program, but we have no specifics we can promise right now.” That wasn’t the end of the College Program questions, though…
Another question during the Q&A asked about an extension to the College Program for applicants who “aged out” during the closure and suspension of the program. While the Disney College Program doesn’t actually have an age limit, the previous rules were that participants must be either a current student or have graduated within the past year.
To that inquiry, Chapek responded by stating that extending that eligibility criteria was an excellent suggestion. While Disney had not yet discussed this, they will look into it and make an announcement. Our guess here is that while it had not yet previously been discussed with Chapek, it has been a topic of conversation among whatever is left of the DCP leadership team. It’s the second most common questions we’ve seen about the College Program in the last year, right after “when will the College Program return?”
When Walt Disney World’s closure began a year ago, the College Program Ended & Cast Members Were Sent Home. The student housing complexes were closed and that semester’s College Program–plus the Culinary Program, Cultural Exchange Program, Academic Exchange Program, and other Disney International Programs–all ended early.
Following that, Disney Internships & Programs announced that programs scheduled to begin in early June would also be cancelled and those participants would be refunded for their program fees. This effectively cancelled the Fall Advantage Disney College Program, among other things.
Finally, Disney Internships & Programs announced last summer that the College Program was suspended until further notice at Walt Disney World. That was the last update on the fate of the College Program, which was released via this official statement:
“Walt Disney World Resort is in the process of welcoming guests back to our parks and resorts in the coming weeks as part of a phased and deliberate approach with the well-being and safety of guests and Cast Members at the forefront of our planning. We continue to act on the guidance of government and health agencies and make decisions based on their input. With that, we wanted to share an update about our Disney College Program.
We are still in the early phase of the reopening process. Many of the buildings with the Disney housing complex have remained closed and we have not yet determined when we will reopen them. With that in mind, we have made the difficult decision to continue to suspend our Disney College Program until further notice. We regretfully need to advise you that our offer of employment to you is withdrawn. Please be assured that we will refund your program fee.
We understand this is no the news you were hoping to hear and we want to assure you this decision was not made lightly. We are committed to our Disney Programs and plan to resume in the future, when the time is right. Knowing that some of you may still want to experience our Disney Programs later, we are amending our eligibility requirements, so that those who have recently graduated will be able to re-apply.
If you would be interested in a future program, please let us know by completing the information on the link provided and we will keep you updated on a future opportunity.
We greatly appreciate your passion for Disney and interest in the Disney College Program, and we look forward to the opportunity to welcome back our College Program participants in the future!
We hope you and your family stay safe.
Thank you,
Disney Internships and Programs”
This was not too surprising given that many colleges were online-only for the fall semester, keeping their dorms and other student housing complexes closed. This was in light of what we now know about the ease of transmission in close quarters with prolonged exposure, which basics makes that type of housing a petri dish.
For its part, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a number of safety measures for colleges, which include the complete closure of shared spaces like residence halls, kitchens, game rooms, gyms, and lounges if possible as these are all “highest risk” settings.
Disney College Program housing is pretty much the same deal. Even reducing capacity of the complexes significantly would still only move them to the “moderate risk” category, and that’s probably charitable in light of the reputation these complexes have for ‘festivities.’
Given that College Program participants would then have prolonged contact with other Cast Members while on the job, resuming the CP would be just begging for an employee outbreak. (While safety measures are effective at reducing spread, they don’t stop it entirely–especially with sustained and regular indoor interactions between Cast Members.) It’s a tough decision, but the responsible one by Walt Disney World.
From Walt Disney World’s perspective, this probably couldn’t have come at a worse time. Construction is wrapping up on the colossal new East Campus development, which is being built in the Flamingo Crossings area to the west of Walt Disney World property and had an estimate cost of $100 million. The first College Program participants were slated to move-in back in May–here’s an aerial look of progress.
This is phase one in a project that’s projected to cost over $600 million in total, with thousands of rooms, community centers, pools, and other amenities. Most notably, it would introduce the Disney Education Center, offering DCP participants the opportunity to engage in “uniquely Disney” learning experiences and earn up to nine credit hours in college coursework. Most of the costs of this project are backloaded, so it’ll be interesting to see whether work continues on the remaining phases. (We drive past here regularly, and it appears work remains ongoing on subsequent phases.)
All of that newly-built housing sitting mostly-empty coupled with the inexpensive student labor will be strong motivations for Walt Disney World to bring back the College Program as soon as possible. We’re a bit surprised that the goal is to bring the College Program back in 2021 (our guess would’ve been 2022), but it’s entirely possible given how quickly the travel industry has covered and the amount of pent-up demand for Walt Disney World leading into the 50th Anniversary.
Even then, local unions are likely to push back against a resumption of the Disney College Program, which has long been controversial for supplying a below-market and non-union form of disposable/renewable labor. With Walt Disney World and Central Florida as a whole having no shortage of available workers, the College Program will be met with much more resistance.
Personally, we hope the Disney College Program does resume at some point. While there are a number of valid criticisms about the College Program, it’s a good way to keep things fresh and helps avoid burnout, among other things. The College Program also has been an excellent gateway into the company for those who are passionate about Disney and its founder’s ideals.
Many College Program participants go on to become lifelong Walt Disney World Cast Members who are true assets to the parks and resorts. Even those who don’t are often among the most enthusiastic employees at Walt Disney World–those who view it as more than just another job. It’d be nice if this serves as something of a reset for the College Program, stripping it of what makes it controversial and getting the program back to its roots.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the College Program? Think that it’ll resume later in 2021? Hopeful there’s an extension for those who have “aged out” of the College Program? Are you disappointed that you or your students won’t have the opportunity to participate in the College Program in the near future? Think it’s appropriate for Walt Disney World to not resume the College Program for the sake of its full time Cast Members, or is that too harsh? Any other thoughts on the DCP? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
My son was in the spring class college program of 2020 that was abruptly ended after 6 weeks due to COVID19 . He has recently been offered an opportunity to return, but has no choice of role selection/job. The cost has also increased and the participants are not told in advance where they will be placed, but are to pay their non-refundable college program fees prior to learning what role they will be placed in. He has reached out to the college program coordinator with his questions and concerns, and received no helpful answers. We also did not receive any refund of the fees we paid for the program that ended in 2020. Has anyone else herd from the college program reboot with any helpful information?
My daughter was planning on applying this past January 2021 for the fall session, but well that wasn’t able to happen! We hope they bring it back by the end of the year! Here goal is to be employed by Disney after she graduates college in 2024, and this program is such a great step in the door!
My daughter is a DCP Alumni, it was hard work at times but she loved the experience and made some lifelong friends during that time. We being a family of Disney fans it was a dream come true for her to work for Disney even for a short time. Until she went into the program we never realized how much of the workforce was part of the program. They definitely are going to need to restart the program to bolster the workforce once things start ramping up. The social aspect of it is incredible too, you are literally working with college kids from around the world and you learn a lot about their different cultures and lifestyles. Some even go on to work for Disney afterwards. The son of a friend of the family went there in the DCP and after he graduated he was hired as a software engineer for Imagineering and has helped design the ride control systems for several recent new attractions. I am all for the program’s resumption when Disney sees fit.
I’m a college program alum (Fall 2014-Spring 2015). I absolutely loved my program but you definitely are there to work with the added benefit of going to the parks and other Orlando area entertainment on your off time. A lot of people go thinking it’s going to be a party then are surprised and bail when it isn’t. Also the controversy while valid doesn’t factor in the fact you are getting this once in a lifetime opportunity and it is a stepping stone career wise and evens helps in jobs outside of Disney. Bottom line you are going for the experience of working for Disney and happen to get compensated (rent is also taken out so you have lodging as well).
Mine was back Jan-Aug 1992! It was awesome fun, and I am likely one of the reasons for so many of the rules they have now. Had pet snake at Vista (only apts there back then), had friend visit for a week and stay with us, twice, snuck friend into parks via the vans, brewed beer in our apt, made a key for the washers/dryers so we didn’t have to pay, etc. I think we were paid $5.35/hr back then, but they screwed us on rent. There’s no way I’d otherwise pay $59 a week to live in an apartment with 5 other guys. As an engineer, the program didn’t directly help me career-wise on paper like it does with some majors, but I loved it and wish I’d thought to re-apply to repeat it!
A buddy I worked with and I went into the backlot tour area at Studios and climbed around in the old cars from Blade Runner, etc. That was fun. Probably weren’t supposed to…
My brother and I did the KTTK tour a couple years ago and the utilidors seemed smaller than I remembered. But you never forget that smell.
There is an important perspective here:
Disney NEEDS the College Program. They need it more than they need fastpasses, more than they need a dining plan.
They rely on the College Program for a good percentage of their cast member labor.
I have been starting to suspect that the slow pace of WDW re-opening is partially due to the lack of the College program. Hard to increase capacity without sufficient cast members… and WDW relies on the college program labor.
So if they really want to return to 100% capacity by 2021 winter holidays, they NEED their College program running.
Eh, I think that analysis overstates the pre-closure role of the College Program and understates the current unemployment situation in Central Florida.
Disney might very well find itself needing the College Program by late this year or early next, especially if the economy continues to improve. However, that is not the case right now as reopening progresses at a glacial pace.
That’s my point — they will need it if they want to go back to full operations late this year..
And while there may be a plentiful labor pool to hire regular workers from, Disney’s bean counters would prefer to use the College Program. (Prefer is an understatement.. especially with recent wage increases, they are counting on a proportion of cheap labor for regular operations).
I did the college program all the way back in the spring of 2000. I loved the experience and didn’t care that we were cheap labor…I got to spend 5 months visiting any park I wanted at any time! I worked in the stores on the main street of Hollywood Studios (which was MGM at the time) and have many fond memories from Vista Way. I hope the program resumes at some point, but understand the need to shut it down at this point.
Haha, mine was way, way, way back in 92! Vista Lay was a fun place to be. I loved going to the parks, eating at cast cafeterias cheaply, etc.
Closed as it should be
This is fascinating, thanks for the update. I had no idea that new development was in the works and I can only imagine how amazing that would be for future DCP participants. I absolutely loved my DCP in 2007 and made some of my best friends there – we still plan reunion WDW trips together so I can say it changed my life for the better. But this definitely makes sense from a safety standpoint. I hope to your point they can rebuild to make it stronger and better for those participating.
Bummer, hate hearing this. I loved my 8 month paid vacation at WDW. I did enjoy working later shifts and would always extend if possible and work parade and fireworks.
I can confirm the social aspects of life at Vista Way. It was party central, with building parties and all kinds of fun. I’m sure I contributed to many of the rules the kids have to endure now, sorry!
My daughter was hoping to apply for the program in 2022. This does not give me hope for the program even that far out :(…
My daughter is in the same boat, 2022 is what she was looking at, but now I have doubts that it will even be back up by then.
The CP program has a place at WDW when the parks are open until 1-2 am. Many of the full-time staff probably don’t want those shifts. College kids are happy to arrive at work after 4 pm. With the parks now with limited hours, the CP program has no place until demand rises. However, many of the CP were the cleaning up people scrubbing the fryers and broilers or wheeling heavy carts around World Showcase. How does full-time feel about doing those jobs again? We don’t often hear from the kitchen workers at Disney who are the hardest working (based on hours and physical demands). A guy used to be able to flip fry baskets with both hands at Cosmic Rays until midnight. I worked the kitchen at MK and it was hard work. People tried to get out of the hard work. I had a CP kitchen coworker that had a doctor write a note how she was allergic to certain chemicals so that she did not have to clean at night.
I would think that COVID-19 will change a great deal of things that we assumed were normal. If you’ve been following the news there was a massive outbreak of coronavirus at a Frat House and then at the U. of Washington. Being young and thinking you are invincible also applies to these Disney college students as well. Many would act irresponsibly and potentially spread it to the customers.