Megan Riksen:

Hello. Welcome to the Work like a Laker podcast. I'm Meagan Riksen, and today I'm joined by Grace Joaquin. And we have such a great episode for you today with a couple of great guests. So we are gonna jump right in to our topic of Disney College programs. So you might have heard of this, it's a very popular program, especially with students in our HTM program, but you will see that it is open to any student, no matter the major. We want you to be aware that there are two types of opportunities for students and new alumni. And that is the Disney College program that I mentioned, and professional internships. So there is a distinction between the two. And Grace, do you wanna kick us off by talking a little bit about the Disney College program itself?

Grace Joaquin:

Yes. As Megan said, we're going to have some insider info from two people who have done this program, but just for some of the details, the Disney College program is a paid experience. Right now it's about $14 per hour for US residents. And it is at both the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and then at the Disneyland resort in California. There are more opportunities at the one in Florida with 6,000 and there are 400 participants for the Disneyland opportunity. It does provide on-the-job training, housing and college credits. And as Megan mentioned, it does not matter what your major is. You are provided housing though, you pay for it. So it'll come out of your check. And it is about $191 to $246 per week.

Megan Riksen:

Pretty specific there. <Laugh>.

Grace Joaquin:

Yeah, about.

Megan Riksen:

Yeah, about.

Grace Joaquin:

It is a semester in length and there are no just summer programs. So recruiting starts in the fall, mid-August to mid-October for spring arrivals. And then spring recruiting starts in mid-January to late March for fall arrivals.

Megan Riksen:

Awesome.

Grace Joaquin:

And then finally here, the way to apply is to fill out the online application. It's on the Disney College program page. If you go to disneycareers.com, that's where you can find it. It'll take about 15 to 20 minutes After you submit your application, you'll receive a link to complete a web-based interview. They're typically 24 hours after they receive your application where you'll get that link. You'll have three days to complete this section and just FYI too, down the line we will have some advice specifically about the application process. So keep stay tuned for that if you're interested. And then finally, the third phase is a phone interview and you'll find out usually two to three weeks after the phone interview if you are selected to participate in the college program.

Megan Riksen:

Awesome. That's a pretty great timeline and very specific.

Grace Joaquin:

Yeah. So you know what to expect.

Megan Riksen:

Thank you Disney for being so helpful. <Laugh> Absolutely. Okay. So that's the college program. Then Disney also offers professional internships. These are major specific, and you must be a junior or a senior level standing with some experience already in your major. So you'll apply to a specific position, which is different from the college program. And those are going to be listed on the Disney internship page, again, found at disneycareers.com. But we will be sure to link to these specific sites in the show notes. And a fun thing about this is that internships aren't limited to Florida and California. So they can be anywhere all over the world and they actually even have remote opportunities and they can be for any time of the year. So summer, fall, or winter. And because these are specific positions working within Disney, it could be within any of their 46 brands. So you think of Disney, you might think of the parks and the movies, but you know, it's ABC, Hulu, Marvel, ESPN, national Geographic, Pixar. So there's a lot going on, a lot of different brands that fall under that Disney umbrella. Some of the main career areas that you'll find for these internships will be business support, consumer goods, creative guest services, innovation, technology and sciences, marketing and sales, operations and support, and production and entertainment. So lots of areas there. Yeah, <laugh> and I would think pretty much any major at Grand Valley would be able to find something that is somewhat relevant to what they wanna do down the line. Especially if, you know, you wanna work for a big corporation like this in the future. And then the interviewing and selection process is handled from each of those brands. So the timelines can vary. But there is a nice dashboard where you'll be able to see when someone has reviewed your application and kind of get to know the next steps.

So that's our super brief. I think we talked really fast to try to get through that because we have two really great guests with us today. So Audrey Hoenicke is a current Disney employee and also a Disney alum, or sorry, a Grand Valley alum, Disney alum as well. 'cause She did the Disney College program. And our other guest is Cindy Brown, who we are going to bring in now. Cindy is the employer development manager here at GVSU in the career center. But we wanted to bring her in because she's done the Disney College program and is a Disney enthusiast. Hi Cindy, welcome back to the podcast.

Cindy Brown:

Thanks for having me, Megan.

Megan Riksen:

We're excited to have you her because we know you're a big fan of all things Disney.

Cindy Brown:

I am, I am.

Megan Riksen:

So yeah, tell us a little bit more about that.

Cindy Brown:

So when I was little, I think I was like eight years old, my parents took us to Disney and I remember standing in Space Mountain looking up going, how did he figure out how to do this? Now it didn't make me wanna become an engineer to build it <laugh>, but it was really fascinating to me about how we could, how things like that could just be built. And then while we were there it was, it was like a dream come true to be there, right? So it was like, there's this great customer service and it was one of those things where I always said, you know, if I could work there, I'd work there. And then when I went to college I heard that there was somebody from our college that actually went on it. So that became my goal then to get on the Disney program.

Megan Riksen:

Great. So you applied to be a part?

Cindy Brown:

I did.

Megan Riksen:

What year of school were you in?

Cindy Brown:

Seriously? I was what, like, the, the year year or like -

Megan Riksen:

No! Like were you a sophomore or junior?

Cindy Brown:

I was a junior. So I was going into, I was a junior. I was going into my senior year. So I applied in the spring of my junior year and went my fall of my senior year.

Megan Riksen:

Great. Yeah. So you were a part of the official Disney College program?

Cindy Brown:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Megan Riksen:

What was, what was the best part?

Cindy Brown:

So back it was, it was a little crazy because so as far back as I was, there was no internet, right? So we couldn't, you couldn't figure out how to do your interview. You had to actually talk to somebody that had gone through it. And the gentleman that went through it was on the baseball team. I was on the softball team. We got to know each other. And he was just, he gave me some tips on how to interview, like, like you have to be on for that 45 minute interview. And then getting a, we, we got a, a letter in the mail saying you got, you know, you got accepted and then it, then it was like, wow, it was summer. So then it was at the end of the summer, I get to go, I get to go to Disney, like I'm going to work at Disney, which was really, really cool. And my aunt let me borrow her car. So her and I drove down labor Day weekend. And then I started that Tuesday and it was, it was amazing. I was there until January second or third. It was, it was absolutely an unbelievable time in my life.

Grace Joaquin:

I'm curious, just because I love Disney. What was your role there?

Cindy Brown:

So I so I was a business major, so just straight up business administration. So I wanted to do something. Okay. Actually, when I applied, I applied to be custodian. Okay. And my thought was, because when I was there people always ask the custodian for help because they're the person you see all the time. Or the person selling the balloons on Main Street or the photographers. But I didn't get that. I was actually on Main Street at the Chapeau and I put the names on the back of the Mickey Mouse ears. That was part of my job. Which was a 1913 singer sewing machine. And it took me, it took me three weeks to figure out how to use it, to the point where they're like, if you don't figure this out, like you're -

Megan Riksen:

We're going to have to move you somewhere else.

Cindy Brown:

We're going to have to move you somewhere else. Which, Main Street was amazing because Main Street you could be anywhere. You could go anywhere. You could do, yeah -

Grace Joaquin:

That's kind of like the prime location I would guess.

Cindy Brown:

Prime location.

Grace Joaquin:

Well, that's, I just like, am so envious that and study abroad are the two things that I'm like I kick myself that I didn't do either of those, but anyway I am curious, how do you feel like that experience helped your career? Or has, impacted you at all throughout your career journey?

Cindy Brown:

It's, it is it. I I have a postcard that I got when I was that first trip that has a picture. And I've got it in my office here of Mickey Mouse in a suit with a briefcase. And that's always been my thing, is you can still have fun and be in business, and that being able to work there and understand that you can still, you can still have fun with the guests. You can still, they're buying and they're spending and they're spending a lot of money. And you can still have fun with them. You can share your knowledge with them. You can ask questions. I mean, it was, it was like, wow, this is what business could be. Instead of that, you know, oh, business is so conservative, it's old fashioned and all of that. So that was a big part is being able to have fun while you can still get your job done. But, the big thing is being on stage. I mean that, that is it. Like, I am always early. Except for today, <laugh>, I'm always early, I'm always on stage. I know that if I pull into the parking lot here, I'm going see a student, faculty, staff, coworker that's out in that parking lot. And I know I have to be on my best behavior. I know that. And when I say best behavior, I could still have fun, but I know that I, I know people know we're here, you have to be ready. Yeah.

Grace Joaquin:

Yeah, and I think you mentioned earlier, Disney's customer service, which I think everyone recognizes. If you've been there, that's like one thing that really stands out is that everyone is on stage. Like they're all smiling. Everyone seems like they're in a good mood when they're working, you won't really see a worker on their phone, that sort of thing. And I think, to your point, Cindy, you very much are that way here too, where you're just, you know, you can hear the energy in her voice right now. She's very energetic and has that great customer service that I think you're alluding to with what you learned while you were there.

Cindy Brown:

Right. It's exhausting though, I will tell you that. Right. To always be on stage. I mean, at night you're like, oh, I gotta slow down. I gotta stop, I gotta regroup to the next day.

Megan Riksen:

You need to not talk for a while. <Laugh>.

Cindy Brown:

Not talk for a while in that, but, but it's, you're on, you have to know how to be on. And I think that was, you know, that is the thing that I've taken that, and the customer service now, when I went Disney was primo. I mean, they were, they were the place you wanted to go for customer service. You figured out a way to make it right for that customer. They just spent thousands of dollars to get there. And, you know, another thing I learned was, the question that we always got asked was what time's the three o'clock parade <laugh>, we got that question all the time. And so you had to, I mean, and I'm a little sarcastic, right? And I don't know if I learned it back then or when, but how do you answer someone that's just dropped 10, $20,000, this has been their whole life that they've wanted to get to Disney. Back then, that was a big trip. Now you can just fly and go get, you know, get there. But how do you answer that with a straight face and, and try to help the customer? And I think that's where I learned there's no no. Right. So if someone comes up to you and they just say, hey, what time's the three o'clock parade? You grab a brochure, you show them where it's gonna start, you tell 'em what's gonna happen. And the whole time, there's a part in there where you've said three o'clock and you've said, but if you're here, it's gonna be three 15 and if you stand over here, it's gonna be really cool. And oh, you have a child, put them right here. You know, and if you do all of that, they realize what they've asked. But you've also made it better for them because you've told them some other stuff instead of just going, seriously, it's three o'clock.

Grace Joaquin:

And I feel like that's such a great example because that's a skill I feel like is really tough to master, is to be able to answer questions like that in a way that doesn't sound condescending or doesn't, or just sounds friendly and helpful. And something that I think all of us could probably learn from.

Cindy Brown:

I know, right?

Megan Riksen:

Absolutely. So what advice do you have for students thinking about applying to the program?

Cindy Brown:

Do it.

Megan Riksen:

Do it!

Cindy Brown:

It's life changing. Right. So when I went, and like I said, it was a long time ago, the world wasn't as global as it is today. So when you saw the international folks that came from for like, from Morocco and Japan for all the different places in Epcot, the different countries, that was a big deal. Like that was a big deal. And I had roommates that were from all over. And that was awesome. I mean, when I went to college, it was, it wasn't as diverse as it is today. Right. So that was amazing to be able to, we had a, we had a guy that was next to us in the, the place we stayed. He was a chef from New Orleans. I mean, he was making us gumbo. He was making us all these really wonderful dishes that I probably wouldn't have tried before. Right. So I mean, that, that part of it was really cool. Now with technology you can stay in contact with all those individuals. I mean, it was a little bit harder back then because we were writing letters, but that was a big part that. It helped me grow up. Even though I was away, I was two and a half hours away at college. That one helped me grow up because I had to figure it out while I was there. And it's also cool when you meet your husband there too, <laugh>.

Megan Riksen:

I mean, a little added bonus. Sure.

Cindy Brown:

I'll just throw that out there a little bit too.

Grace Joaquin:

That's like the cutest meet story I've heard. And I have, I think the most fun question to ask you, which is our final question. I'm curious, what is your favorite either park, character, restaurant, whatever you wanna talk about, from Disney?

Cindy Brown:

Main Street? Main Street, USA. The last time we went was four years ago in 2019, and it's four of us that go. My brother, his wife, and Dave and I, and we're older. We didn't have kids with us and we were at restaurant at the Grand Floridian, which is a wonderful restaurant. And Steak Dinner. It was beautiful. And I said, hey, can we just drop, it was our last night. I'm like, can we just go there one more, one last time - I gotta say goodbye. And literally I stood, I mean, I'm getting goosebumps, but I stood right by the train station and just looked, 20 minutes, and I'm like, all right, let's go. And they're like, seriously, that's it? And I'm like, I just want that in my head. Because for me, that's where I spent four good solid months of my life. Met Dave. I mean that, that's it. Customer service.

Grace Joaquin:

I mean, I don't even have that experience that you had and it's still, it's such a magical space that main street. So I can totally see why it would have that, especially because you had that extra special time there with your internship.

Megan Riksen:

Absolutely. Good deal. Well, I think that's all we've got for you today.

Cindy Brown:

Just do it.

Megan Riksen:

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Yeah, that's, that's the message. Perfect. Thank you.

Grace Joaquin:

Sponsored by Nike <laugh>.

Megan Riksen:

Yeah, exactly. <Laugh>. All right, thank you. So now we'll move on to Audrey's responses and I think you'll see some really fun parallels between Audrey and Cindy. And you'll notice in this next portion that Grace and I will be asking a question and Audrey will be responding and then we won't say anything afterwards. She actually sent in clips to us and we really appreciate that, but wanted you to kind of understand what's coming next. All right. So Audrey, can you start by just telling us about yourself?

Audrey Hoenicke:

Hi everyone. My name is Audrey Hoenicke and I'm a GVSU alumni class of 2012. I participated in the college program in the winter of 2013, running from January through May, and it completely jumpstarted my career here at Walt Disney World and Walt Disney Parks experiences and products.

Grace Joaquin:

How did this opportunity come about?

Audrey Hoenicke:

Now as a hospitality major at GVSU, I was sitting in Professor Scott Rood's Recreation, I believe 10 1 class one semester, and he had a presentation about the Disney College program. And I just thought, wow, what a great way to get into a company, get your foot in the door and really have some fun before joining the, the real world. So I actually ended up applying twice to the program. I applied once my junior year and was not selected to come on down to Florida. And then was selected around September, October of 2012 to come down for the next year. Now as I stated, I graduated in 2012, so I was lucky enough to do it the semester after I graduated college before I started what I call my big kid job back in Grand Rapids.

Megan Riksen:

Where did you work in the park?

Audrey Hoenicke:

I came down to Florida January of 2013. And I was selected to be in attractions and I was actually placed, upon arrival, you get told what your attraction is going to be and I was told the Tomorrow Lands Speedway and my heart dropped because I have terrible allergies, terrible asthma, and I just thought, oh my gosh, those gas fumes, I'm not gonna make it a week. So I actually was lucky enough to speak to one of the coordinators there and they switched me over to what we call the buzz complex, which is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, the shooting game in Magic Kingdom, which is located right next to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which is a show. And also Walt Disney's famous Carousel of Progress, which is kind of a show ride combo. So I was very lucky and I got to work all three attractions on rotation for the six months I was there.

Grace Joaquin:

Can you describe what your living arrangements were like?

Audrey Hoenicke:

During the college program I opted to live in, at the time the kind of mid-level apartments that they offered, which was Chatham Square. And I came down with a sorority sister. We kind of knew each other. We were both in the hospitality program and we thought, well, we might as well try a room together and see how that goes. It made us both more comfortable and then we actually found two people on the college program, people coming in Facebook group, and we decided to live in a quad. So we all checked in together, we all got our apartment and it was really great because I actually didn't have a car or a license at this point, so I was able to utilize the free transportation that Disney offers for its college program interns, and now it's even bigger and better. They've actually built a brand new whole complex called Flamingo Crossing for their college program participants that want to live there. It's beautiful resort style living, it's got access to transportation and it's just off property, so it's very easy to come to and fro. But that really, really helped me make the decision to come down to the college program was the ease of access to the transportation piece.

Megan Riksen:

Can you tell us about the types of benefits that you received?

 

Audrey Hoenicke:

Something to keep in mind as a college program, technically you are an intern so you do not receive any sort of benefits other than, you know, discounts. The living costs come out of your paycheck if you choose to live at Flamingo Crossings, but truly it is a once in a lifetime experience. I made so many friends during my college program who I'm still friends with today. My roommates and I are still incredibly close. I met so many wonderful people and even though you're working for usually minimum wage, you get to attend Disney leadership classes, whatever you have an interest in, they usually offer a class of some sort that's only a few weeks long and you can do that around your work schedule. And I just loved it. There's nothing like being able to say you worked for the Disney company, and truly when you leave your college program, you come to find everybody you know, knows someone who's participated in the college program or they themselves did, or their wife did, or their husband did. So it's a very large network community of people who truly enjoyed their experience here.

Grace Joaquin:

Okay. And I always wanna know, what was your favorite part?

Audrey Hoenicke:

My favorite part of the college program was definitely being able to see the behind the scenes workings of how a multimedia conglomerate and theme park operates. I was not a Disney nerd growing up. We went to the parks maybe once as a kid, you know, of course I saw the movies, but I really had very little interest in Mickey Mouse, princesses, you know, star Wars, anything like that. So coming, I really knew that this was going to be a business opportunity rather than a magical one for me. But it is my favorite part was always at Magic Kingdom we clock in in the utilidor, which are the tunnels under the Magic Kingdom, and it was always so cool to walk in with everybody in their costume. You know, Fantasyland makes a right, Tomorrowland makes a left. And being able to say goodbye to your friends, go through the break room, pop up at your attraction clock in, and truly at that point people have such a respect for the name tag and you're able to not only make magical moments, but also help people who are completely overwhelmed. While Disney World is 42 square miles, I believe we're twice the size of Manhattan, and it's just so nice to be able to kind of be that, that person that someone can ask a question and you, you try to know all the answers.

Megan Riksen:

How has the Disney College program helped to shape your career journey?

Audrey Hoenicke:

I absolutely know for a fact that the college program has shaped my career my entire life, really. So I did the college program for six months and at the time they did not have any full-time spots available. So I left and became what was called seasonal which means you could come down, work the holidays and get hours. Well, I moved back to Michigan, went through one of the coldest fall seasons on record and said I miss warm sunny Florida. So I quit my big kid job, packed up my car and moved to Florida on two weeks notice because I had applied and actually accepted a professional internship, which are more geared towards business and kind of more technical skills rather than working inside the theme parks, it's a little bit more of a corporate responsibility level. So I came down again January of 2014 for my professional internship and I was in guest relations at the Magic Kingdom, which are the people who help you at the front of the park in town square or stationed around the park to help you with any problems you were having. And really kind of given the key to all of the systems and the trainings of how the inner workings of the behind the scenes works at Magic Kingdom and all of our theme parks really.

So after that I stayed around, I was in children's recreation, I went to Disney Planning Center, which is an off property version of guest relations at third party resorts in the area. I worked at Four Seasons on behalf of Disney at their Disney Planning Center desk. From there I was selected and opened Disney Signature Services, which was was the club level concierge call center. And then from there I was lucky enough to be on the opening team of Walt Disney World's version of Club 33. I made most of my dear, dear friends at that location. Since then, I have gone back to being seasonal and I am actually on our research and insights team as a media monitoring coordinator. Wow, that's a tough mouthful. Media monitoring coordinator. And I absolutely love that. I am responsible for making sure that anything that kind of hits the news and our executives need to be aware, I am on the team, that we make sure that who needs to be made aware is aware. And I still currently do that. So I just celebrated 10 years with the company. We, you know, started in 2013. I've been here since then. I live 10 minutes down the road right next to SeaWorld and I absolutely adore it. Some of my friends have left the company or left the Orlando area and we're still very, very close. But I know for a hundred percent certain that the college program made me who I am today and gave me everything I have. My husband also participated in the college program 15 years ago as a lifeguard, and he still currently works here. So you can say we're pretty much a Disney family.

Grace Joaquin:

Do you have advice for anyone interested in this program and what would it be?

Audrey Hoenicke:

My advice to anybody who's thinking about applying for the Disney College program is, is just do it. It is a wonderful way to get a huge corporation on your resume even for a little bit of time. It's a huge global network. You cannot go anywhere in the world without knowing someone that knows Mickey Mouse. And that really does open doors for you in the future. I would say on a practical level, the advice I was given that I still think is the reason that I was able to participate is there are multiple steps to the application process. Of course, you apply with your, you know, background and your resume. So I would definitely highlight any guest service facing jobs or you know, companies, sororities, organizations. Anything that you've done that has assisted others is huge. Everybody is in guest services, whether or not you're pushing buttons on an attraction, going towards custodial, everything. So that would be my first piece of advice is really tailor your resume towards the guest service aspects that you may or may not have done previously.

The second piece of advice I was given was when you apply it sometimes asks you what positions you're interested in, asks you for your top three. I wholeheartedly thought I wanted to go into entertainment and either be friends with a character or attend an audition or be the character attendance or as we refer to them blueberries. And on my first application, that is all I put and I was not selected because obviously that's a very popular role. If you want to come down here at all my advice would be to put attractions because we have a lot of them or custodial. And I say that knowing some of my best friends started in custodial and they loved it because you are truly in the theme parks or water parks or resorts during your shift and you are the one that gets asked the most question. So we used to call it mini guest relations. So even though you're kind of walking around looking for trash or you know, cleaning up popcorn, you're the one that's interacting with the guests the most because you're the most available. So attractions are custodial if, if you want kind of a headstart on everybody else who's looking maybe to get to front desk or concierge, those are highly sought after positions. Once you're here in the college program, you can always try to apply for an extension or move around or look at full-time opportunity, but to get your foot in the door, that's really the main deal. Our applications have skyrocketed in the popularity of how many people just wanna come down here for a semester. So I would definitely shoot your shot on those. And that would be my second piece of advice.

Third piece is during the application process, they usually ask you, you know, on a scale of one through five, one being you dislike or don't agree with strongly, and five being you strongly agree wholeheartedly, that's it. The advice I was given was pick the extremes, it's either one or five because what a computer might do during the application process is take all the people who were threes or fours and say, Hmm, this other person said it was a five. So I would, I would highly recommend picking the extremes. I believe that firmly worked for me. That's a huge difference that I did between my first application and my second application. And I was successful in the second application on coming down here. So my third piece of advice would be make sure you choose the extremes. If you get to the application point of one through five choose your extremes. And then from there you generally speak with a recruiter and they ask, you know, Hey, you mentioned attractions, what are you interested in, or what brings you to Disney? They're really looking for storytellers. Our whole journey here at Disney is about storytelling. So they're really looking for a reason and a connection that you want to come for this program other than just having a great time. Now that being said, like I mentioned, I was not a huge Disney person when I was a kid, so you can tell them any sort of story. I had a friend who came down to work in attractions. He had never been to Disney World in his life, any of the Disney parks. He saw very few Disney movies, but he was extremely interested in sports and working for ESPN, which is under the umbrella, and told a story about how he interacted with, you know, an ES ESPN broadcaster that changed his life. And, you know, being able to tell that story beginning, middle end, I believe helped him be successful and me be successful. So make sure you have great examples of why you want to come, what you're interested in and what you're looking to get out of it.

Megan Riksen:

And finally, do you have anything else to share?

Audrey Hoenicke:

So I wish everybody the best of luck in their endeavors, whether it be with Disney, Disney College program or anything else. If anyone does have any questions about the college program, professional internships, Disney full-time corporate applications, please feel free to reach out to me. I am a huge resource for the Grand Valley alumni. I mentor several of those who have come down and done the college program. I'm happy to meet up either Zoom, phone, text, or here in person. If you do want to come down and participate in the college program, it's truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. You can do it as a freshman through senior or even after if you apply during your senior year and it happens to be after you graduate. You can do it for a couple months after you graduate like I did. And it truly will allow you to work in the most magical place on earth. Our Disneyland partners also have a Disney College program. If you're looking for something a little bit smaller, but like I said, it's the best foot in the door you could possibly ask for. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out and I'm happy to answer those where I can. And I look forward to seeing you all here at the most magical place on earth. Take care.

Megan Riksen:

Thank you so much, Audrey, for sharing those extremely valuable perspectives. So fun for us to get to hear from someone who's not only done the thing as a college student, but now has made this their career. So we are, we are really happy to have heard all that great information and I think I'll just kind of end with this, just do it right. Cindy and Audrey both had that as kind of their main piece of advice is you know, this is a great program where you're gonna get a ton of really excellent experience and opportunities. So thank you so much to everyone for listening, and we hope you tune in to a future episode soon.