History time: the Disney College Program

Source: disneyadventureblog.wordpress.com

Hey all!  So this post will be a slight departure from my usual posts - instead of giving advice today, I'm going to be giving a bit of a history lesson over the Disney College Program!  I find that many CPs don't know much about how the program came to be or how long it's been around, and even though this information isn't vital to your program it's always interesting to know.  However, if this doesn't interest you then never fear - I'll go back to posting advice over the program of today soon. :)

Anyway, let's go back!  Back to... would you believe it... 1981!  Yes, the program was started with just 200 college students in 1981 as The Magic Kingdom College Program, or MKCP.  Since the Magic Kingdom was the only park open at the time (Epcot, or EPCOT Center, wouldn't open until the following year), this name makes sense.  Rather than having the housing we know today, however, participants stayed in a mobile home park called the Snow White Village Campground, located about a 15 minute drive from the Magic Kingdom on a road fittingly called Seven Dwarfs Lane.  Here are a few images of what the park looked like:

Source: disneyadventureblog.wordpress.com

Source: panoramio.com

Source: thedcpblog.tumblr.com

Just like today CPs were transported to work, although the buses looked quite different from the ones we're used to:

Source: disneyadventureblog.wordpress.com

Although graduation for CPs nowadays is a very simple (and optional) affair that usually includes food, getting free stuff and saying goodbye to Mickey and the gang, it used to be a more formal affair that included a dance (Fall participants still have a sort of formal, however):

Source: disneyadventureblog.wordpress.com

Many thanks to the Disney Adventure Blog, who had a fantastic post over the early days of the College Program (and most of the images I used for this lesson).  If you want to read more information, head right on over there!  As for whatever happened to the Snow White Village, well, I'm not in Florida to visit the site myself yet but I had manage to snag this Google Maps image of what became of the entrance to the campground circa 2011:

From this image, it looks as though the land was eventually used as another place for tourists to stay during their vacation but it has long since been abandoned.  However, since this is so far out-of-date it's possible that something has been constructed here since then - I hope to visit and see for myself when my program starts.

Now, the program was rapidly expanding at this point as CPs were also working at Epcot (and the program, by the way, was renamed The Walt Disney World College Program in 1982 after it opened).  So, in 1987 all CPs were moved much closer to property into more permanent housing called Vista Way Apartments... though I'm sure you've never heard of them, right?

The 1990s brought further expansion as this is when The Walt Disney World Resort hit its major growth spurt (hey, that was how the economy was then).  The Commons was the first additional complex to built in 1998 and was originally reserved for international students (though it has recently opened up to everyone).  Chatham Square soon followed in 2002, and Patterson Court in 2008.  (Thanks are due for Lauren, who has a post on her Tumblr about the opening years for each complex.)

Over at Disneyland, offerings for college students may or may not have also been around as long as those at WDW (I haven't managed to find any good information over it).  However, what I do know is that in 2004 Disney World and Disneyland both had a College Program that was promoted under the same umbrella as the. Disney Theme Parks and Resorts College Program.  Nowadays we simply call it the Disney College Program.

As of today no definite numbers for how many apply and how many participate are available, despite what a lot of people will tell you.  However, it's estimated that at least 8,000 students are involved each year, which comes out to about 4,000 for each cycle (Fall/FA or Spring/SA).  That's where we all come in!  We are part of that now-massive number participating in a program that is about 33 years old as of this post.

Well, if you ever wanted to know more about the DCP from a historical standpoint I hope this was fun for you!  If not... well, I hope you at least enjoyed reading it over.  I'll be sure to post a follow-up when I get to Florida and visit the old campground, but until then... have a great day!