Why No One Stops Talking About Their Disney College Program

I would be remiss to share my dreams and my story without first sharing where some of my biggest inspiration came from post-grad. Without a doubt, my Disney College Program changed my mindset on my career and became the first big thing I did on my own. Here’s a look at how it inspired me:

There are Disney fans, and there are those who are inspired to their core by the iconic legacy Walt Disney left for the world. Wearing the name tag, making the magic - or perhaps more appropriately, being the magic - for thousands of guests each day leaves a mark on a person. The realization that your main goal when you walk into work every day is to simply make people happy is a humbling one. 

The Disney College Program is six months of eternal summer, sweat, and helping guests remember where they left their inner child (and their stroller). From the moment you enter the Casting building, you are told that you are a part of something important, something bigger than yourself. You are a part of a dream that grew from one person’s wild idea into inspiration for millions.

If you’ve talked to me for more than sixteen minutes, you probably know that I did my Disney College Program in the fall of 2017 after I graduated, that I worked as a PhotoPass Photographer at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and that I lived my best life there. I met lifelong friends who live quite literally around the world, worked harder than I ever had, and packed up my car to chase a dream for the first time by myself. If you haven’t heard my Donald Duck anecdotes yet, you’re missing out. I’ve talked a lot of people’s ears off about my experience, and only other program participants really understand the experience. You probably ask yourself, “why do people who have been Cast Members talk about it so much? What’s the big deal?”

In the Magic Kingdom, stories become concrete and dreams become tangible. Wild ideas turn into attractions that immerse guests into a world a little more colorful and a little more hopeful than their own. Your own crazy ambitions seem a little more within reach when you’re surrounded by one man’s unlikely ambition turned into millions of people’s dreams. Main Street has felt the footsteps of millions of dreamers just hoping for their chance at what lies in their heart.

There is no denying the effect meeting characters in the parks has on guests young and old. Working as a photographer gave me an intimate perspective on this type of Disney magic. Even seasoned adults get a little star struck meeting the mouse that started it all. I’ve seen nonverbal children break into smiles and respond with joy to hugs from Goofy. I’ve seen energetic Russell take a break from exploring the wilderness to simply sit with a child bound to a wheelchair and pat her hand, offering a moment of friendship and somehow, understanding. I’ve seen a little girl step into Olaf’s summer paradise dressed as Elsa from head to toe - except for Elsa’s golden locks, for the girl had lost all of her own in cancer treatments. For her, and for so many others, this experience wasn’t just hugging a snowman in a room that smells like sunscreen. This was a moment that might serve to inspire her through an impossibly hard day. I don’t need statistics to tell me that meeting your childhood heroes in the flesh (or fur, if you will) is an invaluable experience that can save people both young and old. These moments give people hope. After all, we all know by now that Mary Poppins didn’t come to save the children, right?

Unsurprisingly, adults often need the magic even more than children do. Children already believe in almost anything you tell them implicitly and without question, while many adults have forgotten how to believe: in magic, in rest, in themselves. Is it any wonder Walt Disney was so attracted to the story of Mary Poppins, who comes flying in from the sky with her ways of whimsy, not to save the Banks children, but to save their father, who was the lost character in the story? Adults are almost never the people with the answers in Disney tales, perhaps rightfully so. What if with age comes the loss of the ability to see life with a little sparkle in the corners? Years go by and plenty of grownups lose sight of who they were when they believed in themselves and in the world around them. We let the world strip us of our imagination and our big ideas, and why?

Stories like that of Mr. Banks and Peter Pan become not mere childhood tales, but pieces of wisdom, perhaps even caution, to be careful not to forget what it is like to believe, dream, and play without wondering how our actions can bring us profit or success. And that is what the Disney parks bring to millions of guests each year. They offer us a place to settle into a version of ourselves that we may have forgotten. Their immersive world assures us of the simple truth that everything is going to be okay.

I’ve often been asked if doing the College Program ruined any magic for me - don’t get me wrong, I saw Ariel taking a smoke break backstage on my first day of training. (Am I allowed to say that?) As Cast Members, we’ve all heard the infamous declaration: you’ve just ruined my ENTIRE VACATION. But these moments of reality don’t detract from the bigger picture; you simply realize that the magic isn’t exactly what you thought it was. The magic isn’t just the castle, the shows, the rides. It’s in the security guard who tells you a joke on your way into the park. It’s the attractions Cast Member who lets you sit in the back of the roller coaster. It’s in the people who give you directions and kind smiles on your first real day of work. It’s in the guests who go out of their way to thank you, and in wide-eyed toddlers hugging Mickey for the first time.

The magic is in the people. The incredible force of happiness and pixie dust that the Cast Members create each day because they are so inspired by one man’s dream - that’s the reason no one who does the Disney College Program will ever stop talking about it. Capturing guests’ moments of joy firsthand through a camera lens brought me an energy that will stay with me through everything I do.