This post will go a little more into detail about the Phone Interview aspect of the Disney College Program application process and offer some prep questions to help! As I mentioned in my last post, the phone interview is the last step in the application process, after which you would find out whether or not you’ve received an offer from Disney. At the very end of this post is dozens of questions to help you prepare for the Phone Interview. They’re organized into different categories, such as general, situational, role specific, etc. and at the very end of the tips is a brief list of the possible roles and a brief description. I found this helpful as the interviewer asked about several roles and I referred to my notes a few times.
First, I’m going to briefly go into how I prepared for the PI, and a bit of my process for applying. I had known about the DCP ever since my freshman year of college. It was advertised around our university’s campus and it seemed like a really interesting opportunity, and one that I would totally love as an avid Disney fan! I found out about an informational session about the DCP, and decided to attend one afternoon. It was very informative, and included a panel with alum who attended our school who were able to answer any questions we might have.
An important tidbit to know about me is that I was a student athlete all throughout college. I was a swimmer at a Division 1 University, and any athletes who might be reading know how demanding the schedule is. I was in an unfortunate situation where my sport covered both semesters, as it was a winter sport. We had pre-season and most of our main season in the fall semester, and our championship season during the spring semester. Ultimately, I learned that it would be impossible for me to spend a semester working at Disney while I was an athlete, and needless to say, I was incredibly disappointed. However, after this Disney informational session, I approached our DCP liaison and told him about my unique situation. He then informed me that I was eligible to do the DCP the semester after I graduate from college, since I would no longer be an athlete at that point. I was super stoked, but of course, it meant waiting a full three years before I could even apply.
Thus my research period began. I watched dozens of vlogs, read numerous blogs, and found any information I could on how to ace the application. A large piece of advice that I can offer you is to do research! The program is obviously a really exciting experience with numerous perks and advantages; however, there are definitely challenges, which come with just about any job. In doing this research, I tried to prepare myself for the highs and lows that could come with this program, in order to assure that it was something that I fully wanted. And believe me, I wanted it!
By the time applications dropped on January 22, I felt fully prepared for the adventure I was about to embark on. I had also been in the DCP Fall 2018 Facebook group, full of other individuals who were interested in applying and were equally excited about the process. The Facebook group was really helpful for learning about when applications were going to drop, asking others about questions you have, and it was eventually really helpful in finding my roommates. One of the largest drawbacks of being in the Facebook group, I found, was that it could often be really frustrating seeing others in the group progress in the application process faster than you. I applied at about 2pm on the day applications dropped and was in ‘Applied’ status for over 4 weeks. There were quite a lot of people who, immediately after applying, moved on to their Web Based Interview. If you are a person with a lot of self control, then I definitely recommend joining the Facebook group throughout the entire process. I, however, do not have great self control and eventually found myself obsessively checking the Facebook group and my Disney dashboard to see if there had been any updates. I definitely don’t recommend obsessing.
For anyone new to the process, applications tend to move on in ‘waves’ as they’re known. This simply means that there would be several days where no one’s application would move on to the next stage, and then one day, hundreds would move on all at once. This is where things got a little obsessive for me. As soon as I had read on the Facebook page that people were being moved out of Applied, I constantly refreshed my emails, checking to see if I had been caught in the wave. I had become friends with many people in the group who shared similar interests and were also stuck in Applied, and while I was incredibly excited for them to move onto their next step, it was also frustrating to be stuck in Applied. As I mentioned before, PATIENCE is an incredibly important virtue to possess during this process. I had been assured countlessly that each application is carefully viewed and moves at its own pace.
We were now nearing the second week of February, my 3rd week in ‘Applied’. My team was preparing to leave for Dallas, TX for our conference championship meet. It was then that I decided that I needed to focus on my swim meet, and couldn’t be obsessively worrying about my application status. For that week, I didn’t go on the Facebook page, I occasionally checked my email, but for the most part, I was simply trying to focus on the one thing I could control. It ended up panning out very well, and I had an awesome end to my swimming career by not worrying about it so much! I was able to enjoy my last moments competing as an athlete and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of having my parents with me, who have shared in my 18 year long journey as a swimmer.
I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that everything works out in its own time and I truly think it showed in this instance. I was seriously on a high after my last meet going so well, and on the first Monday that we had been back from Dallas, I received the email that I had moved on to my Web Based Interview! I instantly called my mom, who was ecstatic for me, as well as several other friends who were equally excited for me. I went on to take the WBI, and found out immediately that I had moved on to the Phone Interview, which I then scheduled a time and date for.
Now, as I mentioned before, I had about 3 years to prepare for this phone interview. I had researched tons of DCP vlogs and blogs and ultimately compiled a list of questions that I might be asked during the phone interview. This compilation of questions is from numerous blogs and vlogs, as well as a few questions I added from my own personal phone interview. I found this to be the best preparation for the phone interview as I reflected on so many different aspects of the program before I spoke with the interviewer. I’ve deleted my own answers so that you might be able to use these questions and form your own answers to use as reference during your interview. I had about 9 pages of questions and answers that I laid out on a desk in front of me during my interview so that I could occasionally refer to them. I mostly just reviewed the questions and my answers in the hour before my interview just to have them at the front of my mind. This way, I knew how I wanted to respond to the question, but it didn’t sound forced by reading exactly from my sheets of paper. Be sure to keep it natural and know that the interviewer genuinely wants you to succeed. They’re not trying to trick you or trip you up with any questions, they’re just looking to get a better idea of who you are.
Thanks for reading about my journey!!!
Stay magical & stay tuned...
That being said, below are my helpful tips and prep for the DCP Phone Interview:
DCP Phone Interview
TIPS
Answer the phone in a nice way (Good morning, hi, good afternoon)
Ask their name & use it (write it down)
Make it fun! SMILE
Ask questions if you have any. (Ask if they did DCP)
Don't use like or um
BE YOURSELF
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
General
***Why do you want to do the DCP?
What position best fits you and why?
How does Disney affect your future goals?
What are you most looking forward to?
What makes you a good candidate for the WDW CP?
What’s a magical moment you’ve had in the parks?
Tell me about your last/current job.
Do you have good people skills?
How do you keep yourself motivated when performing the same routine every day?
What do you think Great Guest Services mean? Can you give an example from your job?
What part of the housing situation are you most looking forward to?
What do you think the worst aspect of WDW CP housing would be?
Are you familiar with the parks, resorts and Orlando area?
Why do you think transportation is so important at Disney?
What does Disney mean to you?
Do you mind working and living 1000 miles away from your home?
What can you offer the company?
What are 3 negative qualities about yourself?
Name 3 positive qualities about yourself?
What Disney character is most like you?
Would you be comfortable doing behind the scenes work (cleaning)?
What are some roles you’re interested in?
How would you feel about working outdoors?
Do you have an issued driver’s license? Boat license?
How would you feel about operating a large vehicle (bus or boat)?
Be able to related past jobs/experiences to dream roles/Disney roles.
Have you ever had to deal with an emergency situation? How did you respond?
Situational
What would you do if a guest was being violent of inappropriate towards a character?
How would you react to a child who is afraid of a character?
What would you tell guests if you had to turn them away because a line to meet a character was closed for the day?
How would you inform guests that a certain character has to leave?
What would you tell a child who asked why the fur characters don’t speak?
As a park greeter you are the first person people will see when they enter the park. How do you make sure to start their day off right?
In what ways would you provide excellent guest services?
What do you do in an emergency situation with large crowds?
Are you comfortable working in different temperatures (hot, cold, rain)?
How to handle roommate conflict (loud noise, different sleep schedules)?
Family has been waiting to ride Space Mountain and when they get to the front, the child does not meet the height requirement to ride?
What would you do if you were working merchandise and that store didn’t have the specific Tinkerbell shirt a girl was looking for?
What would you do if you were working at the BBB and you had a timid princess who wasn’t very receptive to getting her hair & makeup done?
How would you handle a guest who needs help but doesn’t speak your language?
What would you do if your apartment roommates weren’t cleaning up after themselves?
What would you do if you were working the front desk and a guest wanted a specific type of room but none were available?
How comfortable would you be being trained on and working with a computer reservation system?
How would you make a guest feel special as they are just starting their Disney vacation?
If given a lot of tasks on a deadline, how would you handle them?
Experiences
Tell me about a time where you made a guest happy at a job.
How are you experienced for this role?
Would you rather work in a slow or fast-paced environment?
Talk about a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer.
Describe a situation in which you were a team player.
Describe a difficult situation with another employee.
What experience do you have working with cameras?
How would your bosses describe you?
Have you ever to memorize a presentation and present it in front of a group of people?
What experience have you had speaking in front of a group of people? Are you comfortable doing so?
What would you do if you messed up your spiel?
Have you ever had to give a presentation for a lot of people with the use of a microphone? How did you feel doing so?
Questions to Ask
Have you done the DCP? Did you enjoy it?
Did you take any Disney classes?
How would the classes work with my work schedule?
Roles
Custodial – responsible for keeping the parks and resorts clean (emptying trash cans, sport sweeping, general cleaning, cleaning bathrooms)
Housekeeping – responsible for cleaning guest rooms (making beds, clean, vacuum, and replace used bathroom products) You can make magic by arranging stuffed animals, making towel art, and leaving notes for guests. (Also tips!)
Quick Service Food & Bev – rotate between a number of positions during their shift (cashier, bussers, friers, and other food prep, stocker (refilling cups) and more.
Lifeguard – work the pool, keeping people safe. Help clean pool area and may perform recreation jobs when under/over staffed.
Merchandising – work in retail stores and food counters in stores. Variety of positions including stocker, cashier, greeting and merchantaining (getting to entertain guests with the merchandise) You’ll be able to pin trade and give out stickers, responsible for making lots of magic moments
Character Attendant – manage interactions and queue lines for characters.
Character Performer – ‘friends with’ their characters. Typically CPs begin as fur characters and can become friends with fae characters
Recreation Attractions – responsible for running attractions and parade audience control, you can also be placed as a park greeter who scans tickets and finger prints. Includes running the control panel, pastpass and standby merge points, loading people into rides, greeting.
Bell Services – transporting bags between resorts
Bippity Boppity Botique/Pirates League – hair and makeup artists. At BBB you make young girls look like princesses, and at PL they make young girls and boys look like pirates and mermaids
Bus Greeter – greets guests in bus load zones, track buses, helps guests board buses, maintains cleanliness in bus load zone, uses radio, answers guest questions and helps with audience control
Convention Guide – responsible for working special events (food & wine festival, cheer comp) crowd control, escorting guest for special events, food handling and securing roped off area
Children’s Activities – host pool partiest (usually trivia and games on pool deck) and work at some of the ‘day cares’ at some of the resorts. Help with movies under the stars and campfires.
Costuming – responsible for maintaining, cleaning and checking out costumes to cast members. Some work specifically with characters and some work in general costuming departments. There are costuming departments at most resorts and most parks, but always back stage.
Floral – includes delivering floral and gift baskets, embroidery and engraving, flower prep, cleaning flower coolers, working forklift, creating gift baskets, helping with in room celebration prep and delivery.
Hopper – placed at more than one role during your CP, you won’t find out what roles until you arrive at check in. Typically spend some time at TTC
Monorail – help direct people in boarding and unloading the monorails
Photopass – take photos for guests at park icons and with characters.
Seater – restaurant hostess for the sit-down restaurants. Responsible for minor tasks like rolling napkins, showing guests to seats, greeting guests, confirming reservations and managing a seating chart.
Vacation Planner – responsible for ticket sales. They have to meet quotas of ticket and special event ticket sales.
Watercraft – drive the boats used for transportation between parks (and Disney Springs) and resorts.
Hope this was helpful! Best of luck!
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