ashliejere
07-24-2009, 01:28 AM
Since there are a new batch of hopefuls getting ready to apply, I thought it'd be a good idea to post a thread about the roles and a little bit about them. I went through all of my older posts and all of the thousand of questions I have asked about them and copied and pasted them together. If anyone has more to share, please post and share more insight. Here is a link to the old roles thread, in case you want to see who has posted the info before and want to contact them directly. Some info though is from older threads but a good bulk is from that thread. (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=30805437#post30805437) I don't have all the roles but I have a good portion of them so far. I have Full Service and Quick Service, BBB, Vacation Planner, Costuming, Merch., Attractions, Character Attendant. I have more info on some than others, so hopefully those who have done the roles can add to it.
Here we go: :)
Full Service and Quick Service:
Full-service is the sit down restaurants (where the person brings stuff to the table). You are a HOST not a SERVER. Counter service (QSFB) is the carts and the fast-food type restaurants. For QSFB, you could either be in QSR (quick-service restaurants) or ODF (outdoor foods). QSR is restaurants like Casey's, Cosmic Rays, Pizza Planet, ect. ODF is the carts, stands, snack windows, ect. Hours weren't too bad. On average, shifts were around 7-8 hours. However, I usually had later shifts (though I did get a few opening/mid shifts). I was trained to work both in the front (in the restaurant) and in the back (in the kitchen). I also had cash training.
BBB:
We spent 85% of the 8 hour day in the tunnel offices working on the hair styles. I'm sooo frustrated bc as you know, its disney and they have to be PERFECT!!! The "princess" could careless I'm sure but that is not up to disney standards. We are given knotty doll heads to work on and they are sooo hard. I got to bring mine home to practice. For the first 2 or 3 hours, I just watched my trainer and then slowly applied makeup and nail polish. After my 2nd break, I was pretty much on "stage" and started with hair styles. My trainer was next to me the whole time. I have been working on the princesses in the boutique with my trainer beside me at all times to help me out. Today I did a 1/2 hr of podium training which was right at 5pm and was STRESSFUL. For me the worst one is fairtale. The reason its the hardest is bc you have to have the ponytail PERFECT, the bun PERFECT, and depending on the hair length it can be challenging. The other two are not bad at all. Pop can be hard bc of the twists but I think I have almost 100% mastered those so that one is easy for me now The most popular varies from day to day, sometimes its Diva and sometimes it's Fairytale.
(*This was all taken from this thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1581326&page=37. The poster, Tinkerbellluvr7, wrote a rather long thread about her experience as a BBB. If you want/need more info check out her thread..it's really helpful.)
Vacation Planner:
you pretty much sell tickets to the park, and other related things... obviously, you need POS experience (point of sale), and money handling as well..it's a nice job actually, air conditioned and pretty much good hours.To put it in perspective, think of the box office, like in the movie theaters, that is essentially what is mostly you will be doing. I asked my interviewer at the time what it entails and she said it would be sitting in the both at the front gates and selling the tickets. The booths are not individual - there are spots for at least two people in each booth. For example, at MK there are six to a booth. For security reasons, they don't want people working alone like that.
Responsibilities may include:
Selling ticket media to Guests
Strong knowledge of the Walt Disney World Resort and its ticket media
Learning computer-based ticketing systems
Handling large amounts of cash
Assisting Guests with selecting ticket packages
Stocking ticket booths with guidebooks, pamphlets, and other supplies
Assisting with audience control, including during parades
Standing for extended periods, working outdoors
Costuming:
Entertainment costuming works on parades BUT also does laundry. There are crazy hours, 12 hour shifts, and if they are rehearsing something new, sometimes overnights....
That's not all you do, if you work a parade/ stage show you help with issuing costumes, help with costume changes and such.
Merchandise:
What surprised me was how much we had to know for the area as we can work carts, the Chester & Hester's shop, the midway games, or the Dino Institute. We also work stock for merch and some food items (fudge, cupcakes, caramel apples, drink carts). In addition to the basic Matra/merchantainment, there are spiels to learn for the 5 games and the photo preview/ordering/printing process. I've also been trained in the Money Room which has 2 sides, Chester & Hester's and Games (which is a unique position at WDW). SO much information and a lot of different options. Our area has 3 costumes, one for the Institute, one for Dinorama, and one for stocking, so it's good to pay close attention to your schedule.
As far as schedules go, AK is pretty awesome in that the park keeps fairly regular hours. Africa closes at 5pm, no matter what. Dinoland keeps with EMH, so Wed evenings can sometimes be later, plus there are conventions that may have late hours. If I'm scheduled in Money Room, I'll be there 1.5-2 hours after park closing, so I have one night next week where I'm not off until 11pm, but that is very rare. I'm usually home by 7-730pm. Because of the shorter hours, though, it's harder to get a full 40, much less any overtime. I've been closer to 30. I mostly worked in Fantasyland, but also spent 2 weeks each in Adventureland and Liberty Square. I just about always closed. So I usually started around 3-5pm and worked until park close (which could range from 10pm until 3am, depending on the time of year and if there was an Extra Magic Hours that evening). I usually worked the registers and assisted the guests (but I also stocked once in awhile). The costume in Fantasyland was pretty bad (green bottom and a white top with a floral design).
Attractions:
Most people are mistaken that Attractions are rides. I worked at Innoventions. Its not a ride lol despite what guests think. I gave presentations all day at various venues in both east and west Innoventions, and at Mission: Space (at the game after the ride). It was an incredible experience. And it was so unique because so many other CPs were working rides. I felt special It was hard: training, depending on the venue, took anywhere from 3 days to 7. There is a TON of information to learn, and the actual scripts themselves. Those ranged from 4 pages to 20. But the CMs were sooooo nice, and incredible. We were just like a family. We often hung out with the FT people, some of whom were old enough to be our parents or even grandparents (my one set of grandparents are pretty young lol) We worked about 34 hours a week (on average) during the CP. Some weeks, I did work a LOT, but I regularly had the same days off, and I had a pretty good schedule.
Character Attendant:
As a CA, you could work in any of the 4 theme parks (and sometimes, you could work in a resort. That's pretty rare for CPs though). CAs assist their character(s), keep the queue line orderly, answer questions for guests, help take pictures for guests, stuff like that. Hours are not bad at all. For the most part, characters are done by 6-6:30pm (the exceptions are character dinners, Toontown, UK at Epcot for a few). So my hours usually were starting around 8:30-10am and going to around 5pm or so. I loved the hours. There wasn't too much walking involved (other then walking to the breakroom and back). For the most part, you stay in the one spot. For the most part, the characters do not wander around (they stay in their set spot). For the most part, you are with one character for the entire shift (unless you are a breaker- then you could be with several characters over the length of the shift). Also, you stay in that one spot for the shift. And yes, it is possible for a location to have 2 attendants (I have worked in some). However, usually it is 1 attendant per character(s).
Here we go: :)
Full Service and Quick Service:
Full-service is the sit down restaurants (where the person brings stuff to the table). You are a HOST not a SERVER. Counter service (QSFB) is the carts and the fast-food type restaurants. For QSFB, you could either be in QSR (quick-service restaurants) or ODF (outdoor foods). QSR is restaurants like Casey's, Cosmic Rays, Pizza Planet, ect. ODF is the carts, stands, snack windows, ect. Hours weren't too bad. On average, shifts were around 7-8 hours. However, I usually had later shifts (though I did get a few opening/mid shifts). I was trained to work both in the front (in the restaurant) and in the back (in the kitchen). I also had cash training.
BBB:
We spent 85% of the 8 hour day in the tunnel offices working on the hair styles. I'm sooo frustrated bc as you know, its disney and they have to be PERFECT!!! The "princess" could careless I'm sure but that is not up to disney standards. We are given knotty doll heads to work on and they are sooo hard. I got to bring mine home to practice. For the first 2 or 3 hours, I just watched my trainer and then slowly applied makeup and nail polish. After my 2nd break, I was pretty much on "stage" and started with hair styles. My trainer was next to me the whole time. I have been working on the princesses in the boutique with my trainer beside me at all times to help me out. Today I did a 1/2 hr of podium training which was right at 5pm and was STRESSFUL. For me the worst one is fairtale. The reason its the hardest is bc you have to have the ponytail PERFECT, the bun PERFECT, and depending on the hair length it can be challenging. The other two are not bad at all. Pop can be hard bc of the twists but I think I have almost 100% mastered those so that one is easy for me now The most popular varies from day to day, sometimes its Diva and sometimes it's Fairytale.
(*This was all taken from this thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1581326&page=37. The poster, Tinkerbellluvr7, wrote a rather long thread about her experience as a BBB. If you want/need more info check out her thread..it's really helpful.)
Vacation Planner:
you pretty much sell tickets to the park, and other related things... obviously, you need POS experience (point of sale), and money handling as well..it's a nice job actually, air conditioned and pretty much good hours.To put it in perspective, think of the box office, like in the movie theaters, that is essentially what is mostly you will be doing. I asked my interviewer at the time what it entails and she said it would be sitting in the both at the front gates and selling the tickets. The booths are not individual - there are spots for at least two people in each booth. For example, at MK there are six to a booth. For security reasons, they don't want people working alone like that.
Responsibilities may include:
Selling ticket media to Guests
Strong knowledge of the Walt Disney World Resort and its ticket media
Learning computer-based ticketing systems
Handling large amounts of cash
Assisting Guests with selecting ticket packages
Stocking ticket booths with guidebooks, pamphlets, and other supplies
Assisting with audience control, including during parades
Standing for extended periods, working outdoors
Costuming:
Entertainment costuming works on parades BUT also does laundry. There are crazy hours, 12 hour shifts, and if they are rehearsing something new, sometimes overnights....
That's not all you do, if you work a parade/ stage show you help with issuing costumes, help with costume changes and such.
Merchandise:
What surprised me was how much we had to know for the area as we can work carts, the Chester & Hester's shop, the midway games, or the Dino Institute. We also work stock for merch and some food items (fudge, cupcakes, caramel apples, drink carts). In addition to the basic Matra/merchantainment, there are spiels to learn for the 5 games and the photo preview/ordering/printing process. I've also been trained in the Money Room which has 2 sides, Chester & Hester's and Games (which is a unique position at WDW). SO much information and a lot of different options. Our area has 3 costumes, one for the Institute, one for Dinorama, and one for stocking, so it's good to pay close attention to your schedule.
As far as schedules go, AK is pretty awesome in that the park keeps fairly regular hours. Africa closes at 5pm, no matter what. Dinoland keeps with EMH, so Wed evenings can sometimes be later, plus there are conventions that may have late hours. If I'm scheduled in Money Room, I'll be there 1.5-2 hours after park closing, so I have one night next week where I'm not off until 11pm, but that is very rare. I'm usually home by 7-730pm. Because of the shorter hours, though, it's harder to get a full 40, much less any overtime. I've been closer to 30. I mostly worked in Fantasyland, but also spent 2 weeks each in Adventureland and Liberty Square. I just about always closed. So I usually started around 3-5pm and worked until park close (which could range from 10pm until 3am, depending on the time of year and if there was an Extra Magic Hours that evening). I usually worked the registers and assisted the guests (but I also stocked once in awhile). The costume in Fantasyland was pretty bad (green bottom and a white top with a floral design).
Attractions:
Most people are mistaken that Attractions are rides. I worked at Innoventions. Its not a ride lol despite what guests think. I gave presentations all day at various venues in both east and west Innoventions, and at Mission: Space (at the game after the ride). It was an incredible experience. And it was so unique because so many other CPs were working rides. I felt special It was hard: training, depending on the venue, took anywhere from 3 days to 7. There is a TON of information to learn, and the actual scripts themselves. Those ranged from 4 pages to 20. But the CMs were sooooo nice, and incredible. We were just like a family. We often hung out with the FT people, some of whom were old enough to be our parents or even grandparents (my one set of grandparents are pretty young lol) We worked about 34 hours a week (on average) during the CP. Some weeks, I did work a LOT, but I regularly had the same days off, and I had a pretty good schedule.
Character Attendant:
As a CA, you could work in any of the 4 theme parks (and sometimes, you could work in a resort. That's pretty rare for CPs though). CAs assist their character(s), keep the queue line orderly, answer questions for guests, help take pictures for guests, stuff like that. Hours are not bad at all. For the most part, characters are done by 6-6:30pm (the exceptions are character dinners, Toontown, UK at Epcot for a few). So my hours usually were starting around 8:30-10am and going to around 5pm or so. I loved the hours. There wasn't too much walking involved (other then walking to the breakroom and back). For the most part, you stay in the one spot. For the most part, the characters do not wander around (they stay in their set spot). For the most part, you are with one character for the entire shift (unless you are a breaker- then you could be with several characters over the length of the shift). Also, you stay in that one spot for the shift. And yes, it is possible for a location to have 2 attendants (I have worked in some). However, usually it is 1 attendant per character(s).