Best place to work?!?! what do YOU think??

[disneyygal13]

I am so so excited to be hopefully doing the college program next year and i just can't decided what i want to do. I think my first instinct is attractions at Magic Kingdom. But I also maybe want to do merchandise. But if i am unable to do either of those what is it like working food or transportation? And what is it like working in each of these places?? SO what do you think is best, where should i work?? tell me your stories and give me your advice )

 

[bopnopper9]

Warning for working Attractions, especially in MK: it gets boring verrrrry quickly. Same ride, every day, same guests, same track to walk, same buttons, etc. Although it is pretty cool to see how they work. The people I know who've worked them get sick of it quickly. There's also the problem if you get a height requirement attraction having all the parents needing to sneak their too-short kids on to the ride and dealing with that drama. However, my last job was Attractions in DAK (Kilimanjaro Safari-no height limit, and we drove the trucks!) and I loved it. Not all attractions are lame, it depends on who you are. But just be prepared for lots of repetition. And if you do go for this, it can't hurt to mention a specific place or two in your interview. They definitely wouldn't guarantee you a spot, but after three CPs, I've learned it helps.

Merch, Attraction, and Food/Bev are the most common CP roles, as I'm told, so if you put those three on your roles list you'll have an extremely good shot at getting in.

Merchandise is a great idea. You can pick up shifts in lots of locations throughout the parks, which is nice for extra hours and getting around. Yeah, I get bored really easily, so I guess my opinion is based off of that, so you don't really have to take my advice. Haha, but Merchandise is a lot more social as well, like you have more time to actually interact and hold conversations with guests. It was one of my most favorite roles.

Food and transportation I have little to no first hand experience. However, everyone I've ever known in Quik-serv didn't like it at all. It's really fast paced and you smell bad at the end of the day and there's high demand. If you've ever worked fast food you'll kind of know what I'm talking about. I'm sure it's rewarding in other ways, too, though.

As for transportation, I've never even known anyone really who worked it, but it seems pretty fun. Especially with the boats and monorails and stuff getting to drive them around.

Another role you should look into is Vacation Planning. This role is under appreciated, in my opinion, and I wish I had known more about it before. You sit on your butt in an air conditioned room and sell park tickets to people. You learn all about the parks, and they even get you free tickets to hard ticket events and you can earn points and spend them on extra free stuff like plane tickets and DVDs from the vault and such. Definitely look into that. It also looks good in your future if you're a business or advertising type major.

Just my two cents... okay, maybe a bit more than two cents. Sorry, I tend to ramble! Good luck, with whatever you choose! If you're a real Disney freak, you'll probably love it no matter where you get put!

 

[disneyygal13]

yeah, i thought of attractions being repetitive and buttons ha. i was maybe hoping to do something in the new fantasyland area when it opens!

sounds like merchandise is a really good idea! you had a lot of good things to say about that...hmmm

yeah, i don't really wanna do food or transportion. i have had experince working with food,not good. tho i did work at coldstone and i like that, and it smells better, so i was thinking i could handle working at an ice cream place. ha particularly the ice cream shop at the end corner of main street or the seashore sweets on the boardwalk. but i am not sure if you can be that specific when applying?

the vacation planning looks interesting, i will definietly have to look into that! does that get busy/is there alot of guest interaction?!

no worries about the ramble! it was good! i ramble alot too!thanks for the advice. and yes being a disney freak, i will love wherever i go most likely

 

[mikeymyk11]

I was upset at first the day I found out I got merchandise rather then attractions, but after completing my program, i realized how much better merchandise is than attractions. Attractions is the same stuff everyday and is a very repetitive job, and the chances you get an awesome ride, is slim. Merchandise lets you see the more personal side to guests where they can share you stories and such, but attractions you repeatedly are telling them where to go and such, rather then have a personal conversation.

 

[saturdaygirl]

Another role you should look into is Vacation Planning. This role is under appreciated, in my opinion, and I wish I had known more about it before. You sit on your butt in an air conditioned room and sell park tickets to people. You learn all about the parks, and they even get you free tickets to hard ticket events and you can earn points and spend them on extra free stuff like plane tickets and DVDs from the vault and such. Definitely look into that. It also looks good in your future if you're a business or advertising type major.

this sounds very interesting, too bad this role isn't offered for the summer alumni program and i can't apply for the regular program until 2013! i'm going to keep this one in mind though

 

[uttom300]

I know people who worked merch, attractions, and quick serve and all liked it pretty well. Its all about how much you take out of it. If you have a good attitude and can handle repetition, which happens everywhere, then you will probably like it.

I did Main Entrance Ops which was park greeter and parade audience control and it was a lot of fun with guest interactions and parades, but you have to be the bad guy a lot of times with parade audience control, so a lot of angry guests. I loved it, but it is not a job a lot of Cast members want to do.

Vacation planning is a cool job. I talked to a few and the only bad thing is that they have to sit in a room all day which can get boring. A few actually came over for day parades to help out.

The point is that you are going to be bored regardless at some point and have a few bad experiences, but if you go in with a positive attitude, then you are most likely going to have a good time.

 

[ZenSandwich]

I wanted a more active (possibly outside) job- like Housekeeping, Custodial, Lifeguard or Recreation. What are some other roles where you don't have to sit in one place all day? Do you recommend these jobs?

 

[AliSW]

I'm not sure about the others but I did custodial, where I think you definitely get the most freedom. You get a certain area each day which you just have to keep up otherwise you can walk around, as long as you're near your area. You don't get many things that have to be done at exact times, you can take a break earlier or later if you need to, you can walk around and talk to people all day. If you can get past the unpleasant things it's really quite a fun role. So many people don't even consider it but then when they're working in the park and see the custodial just wondering around they might get jealous

 

[jeenyus720]

I wanted a more active (possibly outside) job- like Housekeeping, Custodial, Lifeguard or Recreation. What are some other roles where you don't have to sit in one place all day? Do you recommend these jobs?

I was a lifeguard and it was amazing. Although i did not work in any parks i had so much fun. My fellow cast members were CP's or in their early 20's so we were all friends. We went out after work and all got along great. As for the work, it was so relaxed and laid back. I'd always have the 3:30 to 10:30 shift so it was busy when we got there, but by 5 oclock no one would be in the pool. Sitting at the top of a waterslide with no one around and watching the fireworks from epcot is one of my greatest memories. Even though some people may think it could get boring, it never does. You're always scanning the water and its just nice being in the warm weather. If you're looking for a laid back job and you're a decent swimmer i definitely recommend it. We're one of the highest paid CP's too

 

[ZenSandwich]

Thanks for the tip! I've never been lifeguard certified before, but It's something I've always wanted to do.

 

[bopnopper9]

In Vacation Planning you do have a lot of guest interaction. And I've even heard of people dealing with extremely angry guests (you need a Florida ID to get the resident discount... this person was not happy about that). But yeah, I've mainly only heard great things about this role. But if you get antsy being in one place for too long it would get pretty boring.

I agree completely with AliSW. Custodial is a fantastic role for people who like to walk around and don't mind the heat/rain/weather extremes here in FL. You get exercise, and lots of guest interaction. And I would bet that pretty much all your guest interaction is positive since you're not telling people what to do. You're just cleaning up after them! Everyone I know who's worked this job absolutely loved it. Just don't be too grossed out by "bodily fluids."

Housekeeping is a more indoor job. I would hate this job simply because I *hate* making beds. That's the only reason I never applied to it, actually. But it's a good exercising role, and it's indoors so it doesn't matter what the weather is! But I've never known anyone who worked in housekeeping, so I don't really have much else to say.

 

[disneyygal13]

more good advice! thanks!

also..just out of curiosity, and i might maybe want to try, but what is it like auditioning for character look alikes or even to be a perfomer?! what does that process/job look like/consist of and how competitive is it?

 

[bopnopper9]

Very, very competitive, however it can't hurt to audition. You can only audition once every six months though so keep that in mind. I once heard it's something like 4-6% of people who try out make it. Not sure how accurate it is, but it seems to be fairly accurate... Go to the audition early as many, many people show up so you could be there for hours. From what I've heard they take your measurements and then put you in a room where they teach you a little dance routine that you copy and they see how well you do. They just go from there. I've never actually been, so I'm just going off of what I've heard from others.

I'm not going to say much about the actual job, but everyone I know absolutely looooooves it. It's performing, so very physically challenging, but it helps force you to be healthy which is probably good. That's about all I know. I definitely think if you're interested you should try out. It can't really hurt your chances getting into a different role at Disney, anyway. Good luck.

 

[ZenSandwich]

I was a lifeguard and it was amazing. Although i did not work in any parks i had so much fun. My fellow cast members were CP's or in their early 20's so we were all friends. We went out after work and all got along great. As for the work, it was so relaxed and laid back. I'd always have the 3:30 to 10:30 shift so it was busy when we got there, but by 5 oclock no one would be in the pool. Sitting at the top of a waterslide with no one around and watching the fireworks from epcot is one of my greatest memories. Even though some people may think it could get boring, it never does. You're always scanning the water and its just nice being in the warm weather. If you're looking for a laid back job and you're a decent swimmer i definitely recommend it. We're one of the highest paid CP's too

One more question about lifeguards! What do you do in the off-season? Are the pools/waterparks open and staffed year round? If I went down in the Fall... August-January... when would the cut-off be?

 

[jeenyus720]

One more question about lifeguards! What do you do in the off-season? Are the pools/waterparks open and staffed year round? If I went down in the Fall... August-January... when would the cut-off be?

They say there is an "off season" but that doesn't really apply to the CP's. That is directed more towards the full timers that work at the water parks. They'll deploy some of them to the resorts during the down season. There is swimming all year round at Disney so Lifeguards are working all year round as well.

Wherever you work, you will be statused as a lifeguard at that work location. I was statused as a Crescent Lake region lifeguard, so i worked at Yacht and Beach and Boardwalk my whole program. Almost all lifeguards are deployed once or twice for a short time. Its at a completely random time and you go to a completely random resort for one or two weeks. I was deployed for two weeks to Fort Wilderness, but i remained a Crescent Lake region lifeguard.

As for working a totally different job, its pretty unlikely. The only time you will be sent to do another job is when the pool is closed down. Its definitely possible during hurricane season (Fall program). The manager will call you up and ask if you want a day off of work, or if you want to pick up a shift. Most of the time its just park ops at MK or Epcot. Our pool was closed down for 3 days due to a power outage so i worked at MK 2 days and took one off.

Hoped this helped!

 

[PixieDust90]

I worked in attractions and loved it. What makes it fun is how many people you get to work with along with how much guest interaction you get to do. Some rides only need 5-8 people to run it while others need 15-20. I'm sure working some rides would be boring but I lucked out and found my attractions to be really fun. I left work everyday with at least one fun story.