Ever After...should be happily.

So I'm back after about a two month hiatus.  This also means I am back in Collins, MS.  If you know me at all, you already know what's been going on in my life without me needing to rehash it here.  I finished the Disney College Program and interviewed for two separate jobs at Disney. I was denied for both.  Look, I understand why I was.  Why would they hire me, a guy who can't drive himself, can't care for himself, can't even run a register.  Oh, and by the way.  That was NOT my decision.  My managers arbitrarily made the decision not to register train me.  I was never even consulted.  So I sat there for eight months and handed out stickers.  Now I'm sitting here at home feeling incredibly betrayed and let down.  My feeling is, sorry for being so blunt, but, that Disney really screwed me.  I have had several of my friends tell me, "Disney didn't screw you.  You completed your college program. That's all it was.  A college program."
This is completely true.  Disney is a machine, and a well-oiled one at that.  They are good at what they do and they know exactly what they're doing with this college program.  75% of the work force at Walt Disney World resort are students.  They work us ungodly hours andpay us the absolute minimum allowed.  Because they can.  They throw free park passes at us and expect everything to be A-OK.  And for the first six months of my program, everything was.  I fell for it hook line and sinker.  The word "discrimination" had never entered my mind.

Then July 4th rolled around.  I was enrolled in a Disney Leadership class.  It was cancelled the week of the fourth, because Disney needed as many free cast members as possible.  Through the disability accomodations office, I was given a hard schedule of 9 AM-4:30 PM Wed-Sun.  However, since it was a holiday week I went to my manager and asked him if I could work an extra shift.  His response was as follows:
"Oh well, it's going to be hard for you to pick up extra shifts because you are classified as nonessential since you don't run a register.  And actually, every time you work, we're over budget."

Oh. Okay.  Excuse me.  Then what the heck am I even doing here?  Not to mention that when I told my General manager about it she told me he was right and that I needed to pick my battles and get over it.

What I have since learned (or rather figured out for myself) is that they only kept me on to avoid a lawsuit.  "Oh, he can't even run a register but we can't fire him because if we do we'll be in all kinds of trouble."
Also, the only reason I got the character attendant job was because I emailed the ADA Placement Specialist at casting and told him that with my impeccable work record and 8 guest service fanatic cards (those are basically a pat on the back from Disney when you do something right.) I was not prepared to take no for an answer.  So he set up the interview and then he made me wait two weeks for an answer to keep my hopes up.  I know I didn't have to wait two weeks, because I found out that I didn't get the Vacation Planner job the DAY I interviewed.  
The Disney College Program is JUST an internship.  It is not meant to be a career start program.  It's just an instrument for Disney to get cheap labor.

This is purely a ranting post meant for me to be able to expunge the bitterness from my soul.  This in no way discounts all the great experiences I had or all the terrific friends I made.  I wouldn't trade them or the experience for anything.  But I'm not sure I'll ever apply to Disney again.  I'm not sure I'd be able to withstand such massive disappointment again.
Disney is a corporation.  They are all about the money.  And I'm not at all convinced that Walt wouldn't be horrified by what his company has become.

There is NOBODY on this planet that would've been better for, or more willing to work for, them than me.  Their loss.

All that being said, I suppose I should keep this in mind:

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” 

-Walt Disney

PS. Before any of you mention it, I KNOW there is a very positive thing that came out of this, but he's for another day.