ICP here. I am from Colombia and my roomate was from Peru. One night at the Vista Way pool we met a guy from Canada. Now 6 years later my friend is married to this guy and I will be visiting them in Canada next month. Even if the work wasn't the best, the experience was truly one of a lifetime.

I used to work in Germany. I've met the love of my life during that year. She was working in Canada. I also made incredibly good friends all over the world and have experienced things that I will remember for a lifetime. Both at Disney and while traveling during my time off. I miss my time there painfully much and it was the best decision I could have ever made. The DCP is really something special.

I moved to Orlando in 2004 to be a CP. At the time we were paid a whopping $6 an hour and they took weekly rent out of that. I completed the program but did not stay on with Disney. I made Orlando my permanent home. Having Disney on my resume here has never benefited me because everyone in the city has worked for them at one time.

Aww no mention of the CareerStart Program (which I was a part of). Basically they take you right after high school, then you can start college after the internship is over. The now-defunct CareerStart Program is often forgotten about.

So many friends did the college program and it really helped shape them. If I had ultimately been accepted into the program I would have likely not had the life I have today haha. Its actually a brutal story... my college program audition.

I was rejected from this program four times in a row. Huge disappointment. But thankfully I have plans to pursue a career with the Walt Disney Company another way. My dreams of working for the Mouse will never die.

Current CP working on Main Street. While it is a lot of work, the friends you make really shape your experience. Between the mad rush of last minute stocking and singing while Happily Ever After plays in the background with fellow cast members, to the game nights with roommates, the people you meet truly shape the experience.

As someone who just completed her program in Florida, this video makes me so happy!

Hey Rob, can you talk about the fireworks at Disney World? How often they are set off and how much they spend on them? Thanks 😊

Who else is watching this FROM vista way?

While the roles you do during the Disney College Program may not always be glamorous, the experience is something I will never forget. From doing backstage tours of attractions, Walt Disney Imagineering, and other great perks. The best perk was the friends you made along the way, one of which is now my wife where two of my groomsmen were my roommates in the College Program.

I had a guy that did the DCP as a Jungle Cruise captain when I was in college. He never came back to school. I found out through a mutual acquaintance that he loved it and he stayed down there for another year.

Awesome video! My sister did the DCP and she liked it so much that she stayed down there! PS she told me one time your videos were playing in their break room #killingit

Disney CP 2010, lived in Chatham Square, worked at Coronado Springs. I can honestly say I had the best time of my life ! :)

Simply put...The Disney College Program (Disneyland - Spring 2011 and Fall 2013) was the greatest experience of my life. It changed my life.

I'm surprised you didn't make mention of the plans to consolidate the multiple WDWCP apartment complexes into a single (massive) one at Flamingo Crossing. My WDWCP program experience was awesome in 1992, though funny enough, they told us in the recruitment session that we'd be matched with people from all over the world (epcot) and the country. I had a crew entirely from neighboring states. (At the time there was only Vista Lay and the international students were comingled).

Former CP here you forgot to mention that they have added new appartment complexes for the CPs other than Vista Way. Chatham, The Commons and Patterson Court. Each community even has an official disney pin sold at Company D. I have both Chathams and Commons since I lived in both.

Doing the CP was easily the best experience of my life. The people you meet and experiences you have can not be rivaled anywhere. My best friends are still the people I met while doing the DCP. I get so nostalgic and sad (in a good way) when I think about it, those truly were the best times of my life and I would kill to go back to that time, even if just for one day.

Hi. I was a part of the University of Alabama crew from 1980. There was no extra training like you mention for the summer of work. Disney came onto the campus in May 1980 and posters went up everywhere. We would go interview at the student center on campus, where Disney would offer you employment for the summer. A 40 hour work week, plus they were grouping us together in short term apartment rentals( 3 month rental instead of a year rental). I was placed in a two bedroom furnished apartment in south Orlando with 3 other roommates. We were called CT, that is casual temp in Disney lingo. Seasonal workers up to 40 hour a week job without insurance benefits. I worked at 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea in Fantasyland as a sub driver. Disney had the costume for you to wear, so you just had to furnish black shoes. Made great friends and ended up staying at Disney instead of returning back to college. But that is another story. As I remember, colleges recruited that summer of 1980 was University of Alabama, University of Georgia, and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Thank you.

7:06 *Vista Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy*

I have to start applying to colleges next year, and I've thought about doing the college program, due to growing up on "Disney Magic", as my mom says, even though I wanna be an archeologist.

I kept getting rejected and it sucks because everyone is surprised. I talk about Disney 24/7, I smile all the time, i'm never late, I study Disney protocols, Disney look, I dress in Disney look almost everyday. Idk what i'm doing wrong in my app but I never get past the first part 🤷🏾‍♀️ meanwhile people are posting videos about getting into the program by accident 😳🤦🏾‍♀️

I did it in 2013, and it was hands down the best experience I’ve ever done

College Program year 98-99 winter. It was some of the best fun I've had. I made a ton of friends and had some great memories.

So well done! Thanks for sharing!

Vista Wayyyyyyyyy 😎

I completed the Disney College Program at Disneyland!! I’ve been trying to find more history and research on the DCP, I love your video :D

14 hour shifts. 8 day work weeks with unpredictable hours. 1 day off (spent in the parks of course). Then do it all over again. A bunch of college kids living in close quarters. The sex and drugs and alcohol. It was the most awful, but yet the most fun experience ever.

Great video, Rob! It's only been the last few years that I realized that the DCP was more than just the folks in World Showcase, neat to see how it all started.

As always, interesting and educational! Keep up the great work

Great video Rob!

Like always, your videos are a constant source of inspiration!

DCP Fall ‘19 accepted here! I’m so excited to work for the Mouse starting in August 💕

Great video! Makes me miss my times as a CP!

I’ve been watching this channel since the beginning and it has become the best Disney KZfaq channel love the videos! And the podcast!

I’m starting the CP this August and I’m so excited. Thanks for this video, it hypes me up!

Loved the video! I check in for my program two weeks from today and I really hope to run into you, Dan, and Kevin, my 3 favorite Disney youtubers :D

I recently finished my college program this past May and loved it!! It definitely had its ups and downs but overall it was a great program! Magical video!

Great video Rob! I am not in college yet but when I am, I hope to be part of the Disney College Program!

I love all of your videos. They are Disney-quality videos about Disney, so thank you! I lead a normal life, but I feel intensely comforted to have these short videos on in my down time at home--a feeling which stems from my CP ten years ago. :O Both in the moment and looking back now, those days were absolutely magical. All my fellow CPs and I seemed to be on a semester-long high, fueled only by our close contact with the parks that we loved so much. Needless to say, those friendships are special. I'm from Texas, and year ago--almost a decade after our program--I met up with my French friend on vacation in Spain and it was as if we'd seen each other the week before. My roommate and her husband met on the program, as well as my brother and his wife (who had a wedding at the Grand Floridian). Say what they will about Disney taking advantage of college students; we go in willing, and in my opinion, take away much more from the experience than the company does from us.

Future Fall 2018 CP here! This was such an interesting watch, I’m glad you made this video 😊 I never knew about the history and how far back the program went!

The best experience of my life- Disney College Program 2011 and 2013 at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

Current DCP Spring Advantage 2018 CM!! I love it. I hope to do another after graduation and make a career of it. It's been such a remarkably positive experience- even the worst days are still some of the best of my life! My advice for future CPs: Keep a positive attitude. Work hard, play harder. And if you'e invited to Señor Frogs, *_DON'T GO._*

I found this so interesting! I'm currently a CP and I never really knew the origins. Thanks for always having such fun videos, Rob!!!

Hey Rob, I was wondering if you are ever going to bring back the Q&A series. I really enjoyed it and it was very helpful in a practical sense. I'm going on a vacation to Walt Disney World this summer and would like to learn about some of the more recent changes and things that people are interested in or have questions about. Keep up the great work and have a magical day.

One of the best experiences of my life so far was being a DCP Cast Member. Met a lot of friends from across the globe and made amazing memories. This just put a big smile on my face. Thanks Rob!

Good job on this one Rob!

What a great vid! You’ll get the Silver Play Button Soon, Rob!

I did the DCP almost 10 years ago and wouldn't trade it for the world. It was fun and very educational! It has no connection to my major or career but an experience that has helped me.

Fantastic video! Was in the cp program in 2003 for 9 months and worked in tommorowland attractions and we closed down alien encounter. R.I.P. all I remember is that I worked 6 days a week and lost 50 pounds and barely lived in vistaway cause we sleeped in the breakroom. Thanks disney! But overall it was a blast!

Thanks for putting this together Rob Plays CP Fall '94

I have seen your videos and didn't bother subbing because I didn't think I'd care about getting a notification about a new video but every video of yours i see i get interested in it. Sub earned

Whenever anyone asks me what my biggest life regret is, I always answer the same- not attending the Disney college program. I was accepted for a spring semester but then at 21 thought I had met the great love of my life and decided to not go away for the semester. Now any time I hear someone speak about their time with the program it makes me so sad and also mad at my younger self!!

Just got accepted for the Fall 2020 season! So excited for this amazing opportunity!!

I love your videos keep being great!!!!!

I did the college program 5 years ago. I still keep in touch with my dcp friends. We even had a mini reunion last year at Disneyland!

So amazing! Wish I could have been able to do this program.

I'm a little late to the video but I honestly teared up thinking back on my time on the program. I loved it so much the first time that I went back a year and a half later to do another program.

DCP Fall 2010 here. It was one of the best experiences of my life. The friends made, the times had, and the memories still mean more to me than just about anything. It’s coming up on 9 years since I did it and I never regret it. My only regret is not staying on with the company.

I was a CP at Disneyland in Fall 2016. I loved it! I met some great friends thru the program.

Oh my gosh, I would love to do this. What an experience to be had!

I loved my DCP! Granted, it was basically indentured servitude & the hours were crazy, but I got free access to the Parks and could see some cool BTS stuff on my way to & from work every day.

WOOO DCP SPRING '17

nice video! I miss being in the college program :(

I did the DCP Spring 2007 and Summer 2009. I loved both programs. Sure, they are unique on a resume but really I don't mention Disney anymore when going to job interviews. As for what I did gain: I have friends from all over the world and memories that will literally last a lifetime. So many of my CP friends are doing AMAZING things (they probably think I am, too lol). I loved this program. Sure there were days I called home complaining, numerous long work days that exhausted me, and plenty of frustrating coworkers. That didn't stop me from going back once more! I'd go back again if I could but sadly I can't take even a few months off from the life I've made for myself here. Sadly I'll just have to remain a guest until I can retire!! THANKS for this awesome video, Rob! I'll be sharing it with many of my DCP Alumns!

DCP Spring Advantage 2005 entertainment! I definitely miss my days with my favorite puppy and princess from a galaxy far far away. I'm super excited to go back with my family soon.

My time as a CP was in spring 2005 which was a pretty cool time to do it because cast members were training for the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, so I got to meet many people people from Hong Kong in addition to the friends I made from around the country. It was also the spring that Disneyland celebrated their 50th anniversary, so I was there during the launch of The Happiest Celebration on Earth. As a cast member we had special previews and events that were once in a lifetime experiences. I have a lot of great memories from that time and I maybe would feel differently had I not worked in MK, but it really was special. I also would add that in addition to Vista Way, there is another complex called Chatham Square and another complex for international cast members but the name is escaping me at the moment. There was also a clubhouse, but I only went there once, I preferred to spend my off days in the parks.

I loved being a British cast member for the DCP last summer, still friends with all the people I met while I was there. It is worth the experince as it is one of the many things I am proud to of done at 21.

Loved the video. DCP Alum '08 (Where are my Entertainment CPs at?) here. Just wanted to point out that the building you identified was not Vista Way (or Vista Lay as it was know to the majority of CPs).

I'm a 2X Disney Colleg Porgram alumni and just recently became a full time cast member. The DCP changed my life, I made friends from all over the world and had the time of my life.

I saw this video on my lunch break during my college program at Hollywood studios back in 2018

Did the Disney program in Fall 2017 if was definitely an experience of a life time

Great video! I'm driving my fiance crazy with all the Disney facts I've learned from your channel, but it's worth it because I'm beyond hyped for our Disney World Honeymoon in November :-)

I’m from Brazil and am applying for the program this year!! Here we have A LOT of competition and even a separate step with interviews with a Brazilian company to “filter” the candidates that go have the oficial interview, this year we had over 3000 candidates in the first interview with even more people not being able to attend the mandatory lecture due to capacity 😅

CP 2003.. Chatams Square! Worked at espn club in the boardwalk resort. One of the best experiences of my life!

lots of banging in those trailers

I'll still take sonny eclipse over the college band at the starlight cafe

Love the video

4:33 That's my trailer!!! Photo credit to my roomie James Isaac, although you nicked it from my FB profile. MKCP Spring 88 here. Last to live at SWV. There were about 500 of us that year. Over 100 of us stay in touch 30 years later via our FB Group. -KC

Did it. Continued working for them for over 10 years.

I start my program in September!!

This reminds me how sad I am that I was never accepted into the program 😭 and now I am no longer in college so I can't apply again.

I’d be super interested to learn about the history of the Cultural Representative program if you were up for making a video about it! ☺️

I so want to participate in this in one of my next few summers in college

I’ve just completed my program, I loved this video! Ps: the photos are not from vista way, they are from patterson court, another disney housing

I did this but than I got fed and up and left because one of my roommates was a drug dealer who on several occasions stole my medication to sell and even though I had evidence of this it took them three months to terminate him so I left. I wasn't working quick service food which is one of the worst jobs to be roomed with a criminal that stole the medicine I need to function. A lot of people have good times but there are horror stories especially now a days. Like Vista Way just needs to be shut down because scumbags sign up for the program just because of Vista Way's awful reputation.

I had the opportunity in college to be apart of the DCP, but took an internship with an NHL team instead. Wish I could have done both!

DCP Spring '17 alumni here! Best time of my life!

I'm really late commenting but my sister actually did the DCP, overall she loved it and talks often about how she misses it.

I didn't even know this was a thing. Probably gonna look into it after I graduate from high school next year.

Biggest regret is not applying for the DCP. Of course there's no guarantee I would have gotten it but now I'll never get the chance! I know a few people in the program now and I love following their experiences. They love Disney and I know they go the extra mile to bring Magic to everyone they meet.

Looks interesting. Did you upload your weekly video on tuesday due to July 4th falling on a wednesday? PS: Your vids are awesome, rob.

I was in the College Program in 2000. What a great time, with Animal Kingdom only being a couple years old and the Millennium Celebration happening. I've lost touch with some of my friends from the program. Does anyone know of websites/forums where former CP folks get in touch with each other?

I got accepted to the program but turned it down it didn’t end up working out school wise but I know many people who went and loved it

I have been looking into the DCP for a few months now, and was wondering if anyone had thoughts about using the DCP as a foothold into Imagineering as a career? PS, great video per the usual Rob!

I lived in Vista during my College Program and at 7:08 shows a housing complex that is not the Vista Way...

You didn't mention all the housing location changes they made... During the first Work Experience Program back in the 70s, the participants were housed in rooms blocked off at the Contemporary Resort in one of the auxiliary buildings (I believe it was the west wing building). Since they didn't have equipped kitchens, they were given meal vouchers to eat at the resort restaurants (they were only good for dining locations inside of Contemporary Resort only), similar to how colleges distribute meal vouchers to students. When the current College Program first started, they housed the students in Snow White Village. The trailers were extremely bare bones and had up to 8 students to a trailer. There was no pool and very limited recreational space, so a lot of the social, networking, and team-building activities were done on Magic Kingdom backstage property, near what is called West Clock. The Disney University building was also in this area, and that's where all the classes were held. As the program expanded and got more popular, they started housing students in what used to be Tree House Villas, as well as Snow White Village. The treehouses were better equipped than the trailers, so in a bid to give America a good impression on those from outside the country, the international students were placed there. Since this was a converted resort, there was a pool on the complex grounds, as well as a really spacious recreational park/field where the social networking events took place. As the Tree House Villas and Snow White Village were both aging, they had Vista Way built. However, the program continued to expand every year, and the trailer park and treehouses were not large or updated enough to accommodate anymore, so they had Chatham Square and The Commons built to replace them. At this time, The Commons was mainly where the international students were placed initially. More recently, they built Patterson Court to accommodate even more expansion that has occurred in the 2010s, and all properties accommodate both domestic and international students. The move to integrate domestic and international in all properties was in a bid to make the program more immersive and beneficial for students making and developing new friendships. Also, in addition to the development of the program on the East Coast, Disneyland has also adopted the Disney College Program. They built a gorgeous apartment building in downtown Anaheim specifically for DCP students. As I have already done a DCP in World and lived at Chatham Square, I am trying to get into the program at Land and see how it differs from the program that has been a staple in the East...

I have a cousin that did this. All I know is that he worked at MK (can't place a year, I'd say 2008 to 2012 time frame)

Best 6 months of my life

The intro music you use is so catchy! Does anyone know the title of it?