oh HEY SAM! my absolute most honest opinion is DOOOOOOOOOOOOO ITTTTTTTTTT.

Here's a post I wrote up on it, a good and thorough one about the pro's and cons. A lot of what I wrote is emotional/social, and from the way you phrased your question, it does sound like you're interested more in the professional aspect, so I'll get on that:

first of all, one more time: THIS PROGRAM. DO IT. YOU NEED IT IN YOUR LIFE. These people who work with you will change your life. Kurt was my roommate, so that was amazing, but some of the friends I have made there I am 100% positive I will have for the rest of my life. And I won't forget ANY of them. I won't forget Disney, either. I know I've moved on and I won't be working there again, but ohhhhhh how I miss it. Ohhhh, how I pray one of my friends stays working there forever so I can use some of the (AMAZING AMAZING) castmember perks. WANT TO GO TO SPACEMOUNTAIN AT 11 PM? GO AHEAD.

But now, professionally. You do learn incredible, irreplaceable real life skills. I learned how to talk to strangers, how to keep a positive attitude, how to handle the climate and unpleasant circumstances, how to deal with unhappy guests (although tbh I seemed to attract only the happy ones! yay!), how to make people feel special, how to clean up messes quickly, discreetly, and professionally, how to interact with professional superiors, how to encourage and work on a team, how to find those that need help and help them, and how to deal with being completely alone for hours at a time (including when you don't know how to deal with the problem at hand). It helps that Custodial is such a great opportunity to learn these things- big area, free reign, etc. And if you don't think those skills are life-long professional skills, you are wrong. I am 4x the employee (and human being!) that I was before Disney.

You can apply ANY and ALL Disney skills to ANY AND ALL majors/professional lines of work, too. All the things I listed and the ones you learn from other jobs like ushering, sales, food, etc, are HUGE for any kind of work.

So that is huge. Plus, as the advertisements say, ~it looks good on your resume~. I 100% got my last job because of DCP. I'm serious, he looked at that and hired me; the interview was basically a formality. And that job was stinkin' amazing. But even if you aren't applying to work with an employer who happens to run a Disneyland travel agency on the side because he loves Disney parks so much, you moving from home, possibly across the country, working in a steady job for a summer or more (8 months! do advantage!!!!) with a BIG NAME COMPANY, high stress, and marketable skills- that really is impressive. All my au pair families asked about it, too. It's an international, respectable, work place.

WE MAY BE SIBLINGS, BUT WE DON'T THINK ALIKE.