I’m facing a tough choice and need to make it soon. I’m thinking on my own, but I am curious as to what the worthies on the Dope think. Who knows? You might see an angle I hadn’t considered.
I have an opportunity to intern at Disneyworld, well, “Intern” in a very loose sense. My university is very strict about its class requirements, so I’m not really getting any credit for it: its all about the specific classes here. I’d just be a baggage handler, no tips.
Here are the Pros/Cons list-
Pro: Looks good on resume; may help in getting future jobs at Disney, earn a little money (est: 1500 +1000 int = 2500), job is roughly within field of interest.
Con: Time away from school, may be able to apply in future, can still say I was accepted, possibility of losing out on other jobs (courier, online, library), job unpleasant.
I never really thought I’d get in: I was thinking I would just do it to prepare for the future. I’d really like to go in the summertime and work baggage then.
I’ve never heard anything good about Disney as an employer, and considerable bad.
If you are saying you would need to leave school to do this, and not get some form of credit at school, and – well , I don’t understand what you’re saying about money, but possibly $2500 for how much time?
This sounds like an all around bad idea unless I am misinterpreting what you’re saying.
I think I need more information. How is being a baggage handler in your field of interest? I have never heard that a college degree is needed to be a baggage handler. If you are in the hospitality field you should be forewarned that the way the Mouse does things is not the way anyone else does things.
The Mouse is generally not known for being a good employer. The are all about the bottom line with a thin veneer of customer service. I do not know anyone who had a good work experience there - and my family is from the Central Florida area. Most of my cousins worked there at one time or another.
Baggage handling in Florida heat is not my idea of a fun summer job.
Intern for? Yes, but as long as it’s in the “corporate” side of the house. Being out there all summer sucks animated mouse ASS! Work for? No.
It DOES look good on a resume, it IS a name brand, and works well for most business disciplines. If you’re an English major, it won’t enhance your standing in your field that much.
What future job at Disney are you interested in? Animator? Imagineer? Management?
If you really are just a baggage handler then it won’t help you at all if you try to land a job there later. They’ll be interested in your talent and skills. The fact that you schlepped bags for them a few years before won’t matter.
A real internship allows you to learn skills that you can apply to a full-time job later on. Unless you plan on having a career as a bellhop, this doesn’t sound like a real internship.
Seriously you should do it. The cons you mention, are minor. The jobs you may miss out on sound bad, and as long as your grades are good it won’t hurt you academically.
I had to do an internship in college and it led to a good job.
As **Pochacco/b] said an internship is supposed to teach you something related to the field you’re interested in. Schlepping bags doesn’t sound like an internship that has any use unless you’re interested in hotel management or something.
Ah. Interesting. I’m actually in Logistics, and I might have an opportunity to work in baggage dispatch while I’m there. I’m very interested in getting a serious job there in the future, as they’re very good if you have some I/IAd sk311z, y0. One of the best places to start a career (not a job).
I like Disneyworld, but I’m not particularly desperate to stay there for extended periods or anything. I think my big con is the semester away from shool when I’m not getting credit. Sure, it doesn’t cost me any more money, really, but it means I won’t get my degree for that much longer. My big pro is the resume goodiness, and maybe a better chance of getting a serious internship more specifically in my field in the future.
smiling bandit - My sister is director of international transportation for Fender Guitar. She’s managed to move herself there despite having started as a secretary in another company. Her biggest assets were an eagerness to learn, attention to detail and having extensively travelled internationally. Logistics is a wide-open field, and it seems like you could get a better internship than schlepping baggage for the Mouse.
Let’s look at the big picture here and not just think 3 months ahead shall we?
Disney is a Fortune 500 company and the third largest media and entertainment corporation in the world. If your “internship” is an actual internship with corporate and not actually being a hotel porter or wearing a Goofy suit, you should definitely take it for a semester or the summer (whenever you are considering it). I mean screw the school credits. When you actually graduate, it will be more important to have some real experience on your resume than graduating a semester early.
Just be aware though that unless things have changed, Disney has a very cult-like culture. Also, all their employees are (or were) called “cast members”, regardless if you wear a Goody suit or work in accounting.
And if you have piercings, visible tattoos, or facial hair/funky hairstyle you’re not prepared to give up, you may as well tear up the application now.
Disney’s college program used to be pretty good. You’d go to a lot of classes on “the Disney way” in addition to doing something that was probably fairly grunt level work at the parks - but college students usually got the cooler jobs (like the Jungle Cruise). With the insight into Disney, you actually had something that got you credits AND a resume padder. Plus competition was pretty heavy to get those jobs, meaning that having it on your resume was meaningful - even if you job was being a hotel desk clerk.
Over the years, they’ve dropped any pretense of it being an educational experience and now its “cheap hotel/fast food/ and theme park” labor. It still can be a nice way to spend a semester - apparently the ‘cast member’ parties can be a lot of fun - but I wouldn’t look at someone who had done the Disney college program more favorably than someone who just hunkered down and graduated.
You get trashed a lot and laid a lot if you live in the college program digs. If you’re a straight guy you get laid even more, because there are hardly any of them around.
FWIW I know someone who was in the same position and he wound up taking the position. The internship was part actual internship at a Disney studio and part working in the theme park. He chose to do this and put off the last part of his schooling for 2 semesters.
After he graduated he told me overall he thought it was worth it, moreso for how it looked on the resume than for any actual knowledge gained (though it was a bit of both).
Downside: Working in the theme parks sucks big time. Especially the kiddie ones, dealing with lost kids, puking kids, stressed out parents, etc. Being behind the scenes you can see how corporate and controlled everything is, which can bother some people. He did get some opportunities to work in the nicer parks too though.
Upsides: He got some valuable experience to post on his resume. He met some valuable contacts, including other interns with similar views who he wound up working with after he graduated. Also, I guess as a result of meeting so many people, you get laid a lot.
My own $.02 on it is one of the most difficult time to find jobs is right after you graduate. Education or not, you haven’t actually done anything on the job. And in most industries you will learn more your first few months on the job than you did during your entire time in school. So actual experience in your field is gold. Even internship experience will help you out immensely. So even if you have to put a bit of your schooling on hold for a couple semesters, I’d say go for it.
I don’t really have an opinion on whether the internship will be educational and/or help you get a job after graduating. But I have to point out that if you put off entering the job market for half a year, and the internship doesn’t get you a faster or better job, then you’re losing half a year’s post-degree pay.
How soon do you have to let them know whether you’ll be coming?
I’m a little odd in that I already have good job experience. I’m actually getting a second degree and worked for a few years between them. I’ve been trusted with some pretty hefty responsibilities
Dangerosa, you’ve told me something very important, and I thank you for it. I had been curious because I applied several years ago (and was rejected). So I was suprised by how easily I got in this time - and why they hardly mentioned the educational classes anymore. I had been trying to figure out of I could get a Ducktorate, but I guess not. When I was at Disneyworld recently, the college program peeps implied they didn’t have a whole lot of time for classes since they got a lot of hours.
OTOH, getting laid a lot sounds nice, too. OTOOH, I’m Catholic.
