By Mark L. Fendrick

So, your son or daughter has been accepted to the Disney College Program. They now have visions of making puns as they guide a boatload of tourists down the river on the Jungle Cruise or telling visitors to Master Gracey’s Mansion to “step away from the walls and drag their wretched BODIES to the DEAD center of the room.”

And then it happens … they find out that they will not be herding guests on to an attraction, but have been assigned to Merchandise, or Custodial, or Quick Service Food & Beverage, or a Resort, or ~gasp~ Parking or other locations not even in a Park!  But they wanted to “make magic.”  Well, fear not, for every last Cast Member makes magic.

I have seen it happen for more than 20 years now, since my own son and daughter were CP’s.  Although my son had the exact Disney role (1999) that I have always wanted, as a Butler in Master Gracey’s employ (Haunted Mansion), one of his roommates was assigned Custodial.  When I spoke with him halfway through their program, I discovered that he couldn’t imagine any role being better.  I soon discovered that to be true with every single CP and CM I have ever spoken to over the years … especially the ones who were disappointed at first with their assignment.  That’s because every Disney role is necessary to the process of making magic for the guests.  The more they bring to the role, the more magic they bring to the guests, and ultimately create for themselves.  Can you imagine the disappointment one might feel when they find out they will be working in a parking lot?  Yet, like Custodial, I have yet to meet anyone who did not absolutely love that role – and many requested it again and again … even when they became Full Time CMs.

My own daughter (with a degree in Psychobiology) spent her first CP semester (2000) as an Attraction Hostess in Conservation Station and worked with the animals.  She loved it.  That’s where she wanted to be when she went FT – which had always been her plan.  During her second CP semester, she found herself at the front desk at Caribbean Beach Resort.  She was miserable for the first few weeks but decided to make the best of it until she could apply for FT back in Conservation Station.  Then something amazing happened … she discovered she was loving the job – and actually had more opportunity to make magic for guests at the front desk than as an Attractions Hostess.  She was usually the first CM excited guests would see as they started their Disney vacation.  When the time came to become PT and then FT … she wanted to (and did) remain at CBR!  That lead to a series of events that brought her to her current role in Disney IT.  Today, she doesn’t even work on Disney property (her office overlooks ‘that other place’ – Universal Studios Orlando) but without her doing what she does, there might be no magic for every guest who checks in to a WDW resort.

So, neither you nor your ‘about to be’ CP should allow yourselves to be upset over an assignment … before anyone realizes … it will be “the best role in the company!”