Fueling the Magic: How a Company Like Disney Exploits Passion for Their Own Gain
There’s a picture of me in my family’s photo album during a trip to Disney World. I’m wearing my favorite blue denim overalls, standing on Main Street, U.S.A., smiling brightly at the camera with Cinderella’s castle in the background. Like the many bright-eyed children visiting, I was excited to meet Mickey Mouse and hand over my autograph book for him to sign. I would smile big, waving to the princesses I had seen many times on screen as they waved from their parade floats. This trip was memorable for many reasons — one being that I almost got lost during the firework show — but aside from that, I remember that during this trip, at five years old, as my family and I explored each park, especially Magic Kingdom, I thought about how amazing it would be once I was older to work at the most magical place on earth. However, I never pursued it, and I’m glad I didn’t.
Disney has played a considerable role in our lives and pop culture. In October 2023, The Walt Disney Company reached a milestone and celebrated its 100th anniversary. From its films, shows, characters, merchandise and theme parks, Disney has made a monumental mark in history, and there’s no doubt about this — but though the company has created many magical moments and memories for many people, that doesn’t mean it is free of its problems.
Hearing people’s responses whenever I talk to them about Disney’s college program is always interesting. Some people know it, but those who don’t, with a confused look, usually respond, “Wait, Disney has a college program?” Open to currently enrolled college and university students, the Disney College Program is a paid internship. The program is known to help build one’s resume and network but also, as stated on its website, “... the opportunity to experience, study and create the Disney magic that is known worldwide.”
If you grew up loving Disney and have long wished to work for the company, the program is a dream come true; it’s a stepping stone that looks amazing on a resume, and though some have had a great time in the program, others have experienced the opposite. This difference is important because it has created an interesting lens to look through and not only ask questions about the program but widen the scope and look at the company as a whole and its role in work culture.
Some have labeled the Disney College Program as cheap labor. Back in 2005, the program drew criticism for this, which had members of United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1625, worried. Still, the program continued to attract people to join. However, today, though the program continues to be praised by some, its criticism and concerns never left.
There’s an interesting post on Reddit titled “Exposing the Disney College Program” that I recently came across that dives into the program. In this post, shared two years ago, a past intern — known as a “cast member” — shared their experience in the program. They shared that after being selected for the program, they had to pay an acceptance fee of $400, which they found odd (Note: Currently, the program’s non-refundable fee is $442 and is required by all Disney Program participants). When it comes to housing, rent is paid weekly and is automatically taken out of your paycheck, and what was left over, after working long weeks and shifts, was very little: around $50 to $100. The most interesting detail in this post is that of disability accommodations.
Though they don’t explicitly specify their disability, when it came to accommodations, in this Reddit post, the user shared that during their time in the program, they were placed in a role working with food and beverages which caused them to have allergic reactions. To resolve this, the leave administration team informed them they needed a doctor’s note explaining which days they needed off. They were told their days were approved after obtaining a doctor’s note. However, after a week, they received a call from their internship coordinator, explaining that they were given false information and that points would be added to their account if they didn’t return to work soon.
In the Disney College Program, points can lead to termination. Aside from this Reddit post, there are people I know and have talked to who were in the Disney College Program and have, too, called the program’s point system strict. For this specific Redditor, though they were able to get their role changed after waiting two weeks, the points added to their account were never removed.
Of course, the Reddit post is just one person’s experience, but hundreds of people commented after it was posted, chiming in and sharing their past experiences, which provided more information about how things operated back when they were in the program, which wasn’t very different. Again, the Disney College Program is an internship and is just one small cog of the enormous machine that makes up the entirety of The Walt Disney Company. Still, you can also examine the experience of employees who work at the parks full-time or part-time and find some similarities.
In film producer and philanthropist Abigail Disney’s 2022 documentary, The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, Disneyland park employees share their struggles with food and housing insecurity. When asked if they know of any other Disney employees on food stamps who live in their car and if they have gone without medical care because they could not afford it, almost everyone raises their hand. The documentary also highlights how significant the pay disparity is between those at the top and those working in the parks. In 2018, Bob Iger’s salary was $65 million, 2,000 times that of a custodian working at Disney. To put that in perspective, a custodian working at Disney would have to work two thousand years to make what Iger makes in just one year. Though this is shocking, at the same time, sadly, it isn’t.
Everyone is aware of Disney's gigantic global reach and how big they are financially. As reported by Fortune, in 2022, the company had a solid fiscal year, bringing its revenue to $82.72 billion. Like myself, many people cannot understand how a company like Disney, which makes so much money, has hard-working employees struggling to make ends meet. Of course, when it comes to this issue, Disney isn’t the only player in this game of greed, but just because it's a company that many of us grew up with, that raised many of us with its magical stories generation after generation, it does not get a free pass in its history of unfair treatment of its employees.
I, like many others, grew up with Disney. Since I was a child, I’ve lost count of the number of times I have gone to Disney World and have made many amazing memories there with friends and family. Growing up, Disney Channel was always on in my house, specifically Lizzie McGuire. I had a few Disney princess dolls. I had merchandise from visiting the Disney Store in the mall with my father. Like many others, to this day, my family and I have kept our small collection of Disney VHS tapes in hopes that one day it’s worth some high value. The Disney thread that has been wrapped around me since childhood is wrapped around tight and I know this is the same for many others. Unequivocally, Disney thrives on this. They thrive on the love, nostalgia, passion and the fact that some people have rose-colored glasses on for the company, to their advantage. It’s a peculiar, upsetting, twisted dance that they do not only with fans but mostly with their employees who have dedicated years of their lives, and I think it says a lot about how Disney views them.
Again, it’s important to note that no company is perfect, which we all know to be true. Disney is nowhere near perfect, but is it a lot to ask a Fortune 500 company that has made billions to pay its employees a livable wage where they can afford housing, food and healthcare? I don’t think so — not one bit. ♦