4 ms·

I wish the article had dug into the motivations of the interns a little more deeply, as they seem to be the strangest part of story. I'm skeptical pure love of

I wish the article had dug into the motivations of the interns a little more deeply, as they seem to be the strangest part of story. I'm skeptical pure love of the Disney brand is the answer. My WAG is that its a lot of kids who for whatever reason, don't want to live with their parents for the summer, but don't have the grades to get a normal paid summer internship away from home. So Disney basically provides the same sort of menial summer job they could get in their hometown, but they can live with a bunch of similarly aged kids instead of their parents, and get to say they spent their summer at an internship with a prestigious corporation, instead of flipping burgers at the local McDs.

cookiecaper 7y ago
Disney College Program is very competitive and there are many applicants who don't get accepted. The application requires an essay and a very robust background. It's by no means an option for people whose only alternative would be flipping burgers. Disney's not exactly selecting for traditional geniuses -- they look primarily for image, work ethic, and complete starry-eyed devotion to the brand. There are plenty of people like this and Disney imports thousands of them to Orlando each year. It's not so bad if you're doing it for a semester or two when you wouldn't expect to be making money anyway, but you have to be willing to essentially sign your life away to the Mouse for the duration of the program. The pay is minimal, the hours are long and grueling, and the work is physically and emotionally difficult. Disney expects complete control of your schedule and missing more than a shift or two is basically not an option. It's not for the faint of heart.