Mickey Mouse Broke 28,000 Hearts
By: Dianna Carney
Tags: Disney, Disney College Program, Internships, Internship Experience, Disney World

Mickey Mouse Broke 28,000 Hearts

The Walt Disney Company announced the breaking news that they would be laying off 28,000 employees across the company. Amid a pandemic with no end in sight, this isn’t surprising, but it doesn’t make it any less devastating. A survey in 2018 found that three-quarters of Disney Land employees can’t afford basic living expenses. That number is a terrifying statistic of how many people can’t survive life with their jobs. How can they possibly survive without their roles?

Sadly, this fact is just the beginning of “the dark side of Disney”- but this isn’t surprising. After all, Disney is a corporation- and although they make money off your emotions, it doesn’t mean they care about them.

I learned this the hard way back in 2015. I’d applied the year before to the Disney College Program, not expecting to be accepted- I was hugely mistaken. Not only was I admitted to the internship program, but I landed a highly in-demand role- Fairy Godmother in Training.

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The glamorous side of the role included playing dress-up with little girls all day, making their dreams come true, and genuinely making them feel they had their very own Fairy Godmother! I’d spend approximately an hour with each child, doing their hair, makeup, and painting their nails. If the parents spent an additional $150, I’d escort their little Princess to a dressing room where they’d choose their favorite gown- the cherry on top for any Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique transformation!

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The other side of the role included 12-hour shifts on your feet, a point system for call-outs and “late-shows”; if you clocked-in even two minutes after your assigned start time, it counted against you (so if there was a line for the clock-in computer, you were screwed). And from my own experience, a system of authority that didn’t seem to care about the individuals working under them.

Image by Dianna Carney

Now, Mickey Mouse broke my heart- but like any breakup, I just needed some time for my heart to heal.

Conflicting feelings when I hear the word Disney doesn’t even begin to describe what goes through my head; it took me three months to finally signup for Disney+ just because I was unsure if I wanted a constant reminder of the best time of my life that was cut so short.

About two months into my internship, my apartment of six girls total got ill. Only half of us had health insurance from back home that still worked in the state of Florida. When a few of us returned with positive strep throat results, it became clear we had a problem.

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Throughout this, all six of us continued to show up for our roles. These roles involved kitchen roles in Magic Kingdom and Epcot, photography roles around the parks, and mine- working one-on-one with not only young children but daily we had Make-a-Wish children come in to make their dreams come true.

I began calling out of my role as soon as I heard it was strep throat; I couldn’t put children and their families at risk knowing I was contagious. Every day I called the phone number given to us, explaining to the person on the other end the position I was in- every time they explained this call-out would count against me.

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By the time I finally went to the doctors and got a prescription, I had become so ill that some of my organs had begun becoming inflamed. I had been paying per-a-visit in a local Orlando community health clinic as I had no health insurance in that state; Disney didn’t offer it to their interns or part-time employees. I remember one day I was walking to the laundry room in my apartment building, it was towards the end of my antibiotic prescription, and I had been feeling a bit better and was getting ready to go back to work. On my way to the laundry, basket in hand, I collapsed on the ground. I had gotten so dizzy from walking down the stairs that everything had gone black. When I came to a few seconds later, I looked around and began to cry. I was in the middle of a parking lot, alone, sick- out of medication, and out of options. I called my family in that moment, and they told me to come home to get medical help as soon as possible- beyond what a community clinic could offer me. I then left my dirty clothes basket in my car, walked to the housing office, and explained my dilemma; they simply told me to be out in 24 hours. It was a slap in the face.

Image by Dianna Carney

When I first left Disney, I was furious. How dare they throw me out for something beyond my control? The stars in my eyes I’d arrived with just a few short months prior were gone, replaced with tears.

Due to being so sick, I couldn’t drive my car the 956 miles back home. My family paid for an auto-train ticket that would depart in less than 24 hours. The plan was my grandfather would meet at the last stop in Washington D.C. and drive me back the rest of the way home.

I hate to make this sound like a sob story- but I think my story’s details are important, especially while living through a pandemic. I imagine that the employees that are left working in the park are now facing the same dilemma I once did.

Disney is a corporation with ingrained beliefs that putting money before their employees is how to succeed. They measure their success by stock prices and box office records. However, when it comes to the people who work tirelessly to make the real magic happen, they’re being tossed out of the Disney family without a second thought.