Update to Intern Park Passes

One of the greatest perks of being an intern with Disney is the free park admission. Can you imagine being able to enjoy the magic whenever you want!?!?! Even after two years with the Company I have to say it doesn't get old. While, I might not go quite as often as I did during my first internship because I wanted to make the most of my unknown amount of time here, I still go quite often. I love being able to just go for a few hours in the evening after the sun goes down in the summer, grab a bit to eat during Food and Wine at EPCOT, enjoy all of the holiday festivities, and more whenever I want. 

As a cast member, you even get to bring guests in to enjoy with you! While I am very fortunate to be statused in a full time position now so my guest passes work differently, interns (College or Professional ones) still get the same unlimited self admission and get some guest passes as well. I made a post last year about the old way that intern guest passes used to work (Old Intern Park Pass Post) but at the beginning of this calendar year Disney shook up the way intern passes work so I figured it was worth doing an update for those who might be itching to know what to expect.

The self admission main entrance pass still works the same, but instead of getting 3x 6 use passes at the beginning of your internship, interns and seasonal cast members now accrue their guest passes based on hours worked.

Need to actually type how the new passes work. I believe that once you have worked 150 hours you will receive three 1 person park hopper tickets. These could all be used on the same day or different days, it's up to you! Then after you work another 150 hours you get three more 1 person park hoppers. Finally you will recieve 3 more after the 450th hour worked. I believe at that point you will stop accruing so during your internship you will likely get nine 1 person park hoppers. 

If you were to let in the max of 3 people each time you used the old version then technically you got more under the old way (max 18 across 6 days) and could do so from the day you got your main enterence pass was nice. However, the felxibility of when you can use the new passes is nice too! Why did this change happen? Perhaps Disney was trying to avoid people starting a CP/PI using the perks and then quitting and/or trading away shifts as a CP but maintaining their own entrance to the parks. Who knows the exact reason this changed but I haven't heard many complaints about the new system besides when it was first announced, so I assume it has been going well. But let's be honest: who can complain about getting in free to Disney and having the opportunity to intern at such a great company!!!!

Park Passes for Interns

One of the coolest perks of working for Disney is free entry into the parks! Cast members can get into the park almost every day of the year using their Main Entrance Pass (also called their Main Gate). There are a few set day that cast are blocked out, such as 4th of July, New Years, 24 Hour Days, etc.  If the park reaches a certain capacity cast can also be phased out. This usually particularly happens during the holidays. Typically only Magic Kingdom gets blocked out for cast, but occasionally other parks will be hit, too. For example, in October EPCOT is blocked on the day of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.

The exciting thing is, that not only do you get yourself in for free, you get a certain number of guest passes! That means you can get friends or family in for free, too! When you are an intern (whether it is on a college program, a professional internship, or management internship) you will get 6 guest passes. These 6 passes allow you to get 3 people in at a time. If you only bring 2 people into the park, the 3rd pass expires. Unlike your maingate pass that lets you into the park, your guest pass has a lot more restricted dates. Usually block out dates are posted for 3 months at a time and can be found on the following website: Block Out Dates

Another cool perk, is your Main Gate works at any Disney park in the world, besides Tokyo Disneyland. That means if you are really lucky during your internship you could try and make a long weekend to visit Disneyland! I have even heard that if you use your guest passes there they do not count against your guest pass usage at Disney World! If you go there I have heard you have to go to guest relations to get your passes using your company ID. 

Note: This information is for interns at Walt Disney World. Disneyland is a little different. I heard that interns there do not get guest passes.