by Brittany DiCologero and Eilis Doran
This Disney College Program role interview features Eilis Doran, who worked in merchandise in Adventureland and Liberty Square during the Fall 2016 program. Eilis attends Southern Methodist University where she majors in Mechanical Engineering.
Q: What made you want to do the Disney College Program?
A: My mother had done a College Program back when she was in college. She would often tell me stories about it and I really wanted to have a similar experience.
Q: What was your role/location? Was it your first choice? If not, what was?
A: I was Merchandise in Adventureland/ Liberty Square of Magic Kingdom. My first choice of role when applying was Attractions.
Q: What was your training like?
A: So my location had about a month of training. First we learned registers and how to properly get to our location from backstage. A week later we learned stocking which was mostly how many items we were to keep out and where everything was stored. The next week was Balor training which was just a 20 minute lesson on how to flatten boxes. The last training was about a month after we arrived. In my location we got to operate the glow carts for the entire Magic Kingdom.
Q: What did you like most about your role?
A: I liked how my role wasn’t limited to just one shop or location. In merchandise I had the ability to wear a different costume everyday of the week and work in a different location whenever possible.
Q: What did you like least?
A: I disliked the late shift followed by the lonely bus ride for the morning stock shift. Every time I had the opening park shift I usually had the bare amount of turn around time required.
Q: Would you recommend this role to a friend?
A: I would and have. Besides the morning shifts I loved every aspect of my role sure the days where guests are angry about things outside your control are rough but for the most part I had a lot of fun.
Q: What advice would you have for a new CP in this role?
A: Don’t be afraid to pick up some place totally new. Trying the different locations is probably the biggest perk of merchandise.
Q: What have you been up to since your program ended?
A: I’m graduating in a month so I’ve been studying and job searching. If I go to grad school I think I’ll consider doing another program.
For more about Eilis’ DCP adventures, check out her blog here.