MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN • 5A
Disney
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Contributed photo
Disney representatives recruit interns at 350 schools each fall and spring. Twenty-eight KU students have been offered Disney internships for next semester, according to University Career and Employment Services.
Tony Wylanek, Overland Park senior, sells beverages at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex. Vylanek worked in quick service food and beverage as part of his Walt Disney World internship during Spring 2001.
Program recruiters offer "a magical time in a magical place" to college students, as well as the opportunity to network with employees of a successful Fortune 500 company.
Molly Griffith participated in the program during Fall 2000 and is a member of the Walt Disney World College Program Alumni Association. The Stillwater, Minn., senior is one of six college program recruiters at KU.
"We all loved the program and we all wanted to stay involved with Disney at KU." Griffith said.
But not all participants found the experience magical.
Beth Ann Allison, a sophomore at Emporia State University, participated in the program in Spring 2001 and went home after two months.
She said she lived in a three-bedroom apartment with five girls whom she didn't like and worked as a merchandise hostess on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom.
She said she was promised 40 hours a week at her job but worked only 25 to 30 hours. For Allison and other students, it was tough to pay for groceries, gas and rent.
"You spend all the money you make on food and Disney souvenirs," said Emilie Norvell, a junior at Murray State University in Murray, Ky. "So it's like Disney gets all its money back."
Allison said she didn't have much spending money and could only go out one night a week, when admission was free at Pleasure Island for "cast members," or employees.
She also didn't like her job selling glass, art and animation
"It was the most mindnumbing job I've ever had, but I had so much fun down there. The work stinks, but the tradeoff is worth it."
Brea Baumann
Disney intern, Fall 2001
sketches, or cells. Allison said she was often the only worker at the store and knew nothing about the art. She said she wasn't qualified to answer shopper's questions.
Allison asked her managers more than once if she could switch jobs, but they would not let her.
A Disney World employment assistant said interns were not allowed to switch jobs once they began working because they already had been told three times what their jobs would be.
"The recruiter tells you, they tell you in the interview, and in your acceptance letter," said Michelle, who would not give her last name. "Here at Disney, we're a first-name company. We don't give our last names out."
Disney surveys interns to get feedback but doesn't disclose the results, Michelle said.
Jeff Tasset is a Disney college recruiter and has recruited at KU for three years. During his September presentation, he said interns were guaranteed 30 to 45 hours of work per week.
Interns live in apartment complexes provided by the company and their rent, which ranges from $67 to $79 per person per week, is automatically deducted from their paychecks, he said.
Tasset did not respond to subsequent calls or e-mails.
Common student jobs — or "roles," as Disney calls them include working in quick-service food and beverage; full-service food and beverage; merchandise; operations, which includes attractions, park greeters and
parking; custodial; lifeguarding and hospitality. The pay is $6 an hour.
There is no set minimum wage in Florida, but $6 an hour is less than the minimum wage in eight states, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics.
Norvell worked in quick-service food and beverage at Disney-MGM Studios during Spring 2001.
"I worked selling ice cream at 'The Dip Cart,' also known as 'Hell on Earth,'" she said. "They made it sound so glamorous, but it was not what it seemed."
The costume was not the worst part for Norvell. As a dance minor, she wanted to shadow Disney dancers.
Norvell said she worked long hours in the sun, wearing an
apron and hot polyester pants.
"They told me I would be able to shadow and make connections, so I tried several times to shadow Beauty and the Beast dancers," Norvell said. "But I asked at least three people for the chance to shadow, and I was never able to."
Whether interns have the opportunity to shadow depends largely on their individual managers, said Disney World employee Cameron Meier.
"It really is the luck of the
"I worked selling ice cream at 'The Dip Cart, also known as 'Hell on Earth.' They made it sound so glamorous, but it was not what it seemed."
Emilie Norvell Disney intern, Spring 2001
draw." Meier said.
Kendra Merino, Disney college recruiting coordinator, said recruiters stopped telling students a year ago that they would be able to shadow employees.
"Now we tell them that they can 'network' with employees," she said. "We have networking events for students to meet people from different areas of Disney."
She said if students wanted to network with employees, it was their responsibility to take the initiative.
Brian Edwards said he was never able to shadow Disney employees during his internship. He said he asked three or four times to shadow someone in the business or the marketing department, but it never happened.
"It was just a sales pitch," said Edwards, a junior studying finance at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Edwards worked as a lifeguard at the Yacht Club Resort and the Beach Club Resort from May 2001 until January 2002.
"As interns, we were like the bottom of the food chain there," he said.
"I hated the work experience," Edwards said. "It was like exploited labor."
He said he was frustrated with 10-hour shifts, working holidays and not having scheduling input.
Brea Baumann said the internship was not the best job she ever had, but it was fun.
She worked as a lifeguard at the
Grand Floridian Resort & Spa from August 2001 until January 2002.
"It it was the most mind-numbing job I've ever had," said Baumann, a Clearwater senior studying business at KU, "but I had so much fun down there. The work stinks, but the tradeoff is worth it."
She said it was a good experience to learn about herself and to realize she could live on her own.
Meier, the Disney World employee, participated in the college program in 1992. He enjoyed the program so much that he did the internship three times and went on to be full-time, working as an attractions coordinator for seven years.
"I would recommend the internship to people who love Disney and want a fun experience," said Meier, a KU graduate. "I wouldn't recommend it to people who want to make a lot of money."
What he made in the early 1990s was not much different from the $6 an hour interns receive today, he said.
"People have complained about the intern pay not increasing more throughout the years," Meiers said.
KU career coordinator Gail Rooney said potential employers probably considered the Disney internship to be valuable work experience, especially employers looking to hire students for sales, customer service and management.
But she did warn that students interested in the internship should understand exactly what they would be doing at Disney.
"You need to look realistically at the program and figure out if it's a good match for you," Rooney said.
Edwards said he had a different view of Disney after working there as a lifeguard.
"Being a Disney employee definitely ruined the magic," he said.
— Edited by Nicole Roché
The Associated Press
El Al airline security guards halt hijacker on flight to Istanbul
ISTANBUL, Turkey — Security guards on Israel's national airline El Al overpowered a man who tried to hijack a flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul yesterday.
None of the 170 passengers on board the Boeing 757 were harmed and the plane landed safely, said Oktay Cakirlar, an official at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport.
The semi-official Anatolia news agency identified the hijacker as Tawfiq Fukra, a 23-year-old Arab with an Israeli passport.
Cakirlar said El Al Flight 581 sent out a hijacking signal as it approached Istanbul but the suspect was overcome.
"No one was injured," Cakirlar told The Associated Press. "The terrorist is in custody at the police station at the airport."
Turkey's private CNN-Turk and NTV televisions quoted police sources as saying the alleged hijacker was an Israeli Arab and was armed with a knife.
Television reports said the man was overpowered by two Israeli security guards aboard the plane.
He reportedly first threatened a flight attendant with a knife and tried to approach the cockpit but he was overpowered by two security guards.
"We heard people saying there was fighting and half a minute later it became clear that from row five or six a man ran amok toward the pilot's cabin, attacked a stewardess and tried to enter the cockpit." Menachen Binet, an Israeli passenger on the plane, told Israel army radio. "We saw a stewardess running like crazy from the front of the place to the business section. She was terrified."
Security guards "threw him to the floor with his legs spread and his face to the floor. The passengers were hysterical but the flight attendants were very cool, they calmed us down," he said.
At the airport, passengers could be seen going through passport control and security checks, where they were frisked.
El Al is widely regarded as world's most protected airline.
but also one of the most threatened. From the late 1960s into the 1980s, El Al planes and passengers were subjected to shooting attacks, hijacking and bombing attempts.
El Al's formidable security includes armed guards at checkin, on-board marshals and extensive searches of luggage. Passengers are told to arrive three hours ahead of flights to allow enough time for the security checks.
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