Disney: work or play? (Career or vacation)

[Princess Jes]

So, this isn't a thread about whether the new MDE and FP+ and ADR's are hard work for a vacation.
No.
This is a thread about: is Disney (world or land) just a vacation to you? Are you happy for it to be that and always be your vacation destination, nothing more.
Or is it something that you'd like to make into a career?
Whether it's in the parks as a front line CM, or working for disney corporate, or perhaps branching off and doing something like Pete and the team has done, make it your career outside of the parks.
Orlando has the opportunity for news reporters, photographers, videographers, travel agents etc to all make disney part of their careers but still sticking to their profession of choice.
It can be somewhat harder for those who don't live in orlando or Anaheim, but Pete has agents across the US, and even Tracey in Canada!
Maybe you'd move cross country like Kathy did?

I'd love nothing more than to have disney be part of my every day career.
It's so much harder for Australians as it's not as prevalent here. Sure kids love the movies, but that's about as far as it goes. There's a small disney office in melbourne but I don't think the cast member numbers are very high.
I'm an accountant who has mostly worked in the rag trade, and I enjoy it, but lately I've found myself fantasizing about what it would be like to work for disney or a branched off company.
Disney is out of the question as I have visible tattoos (hand, ankle, wrist) so I guess something related to disney: again, not really possible down here. It makes me sad, when I think about that.

I was talking with the corporate travel agent last week while I was booking some accomodation for an upcoming trip to Bali, and we got to talking about WDW. Her cousin is going in a couple of weeks, and she knows very little about it.
Well... Didn't i bombard her!
She said quite a few times "you should be a travel agent you know?!"
And that broke my heart even more.

Anyway, what is it for you? Do you like that disney is your happy place, you'd never want it to cross over into your professional life?
Or do you yearn to work for the Mouse? Do you want a disney focused career? And if so, what's holding you back? Pete has mentioned on the show that he gets many requests for people to come work for him, so obviously there are people out there who listen to the podcast or use the boards who are keen to do so. Id love to heard why you don't/can't.

 

[jcb]

Work would spoil it for me. Then there is the unbearable heat. And I would miss the mountains.

 

[samsteele]

Play only for me. WDW lets me leave work behind. I try not to bring the cell phone & just disconnect. I think if it was work, the magic would be lost. At least for me.

 

[Andrea1973]

For now, Disney is a vacation spot for me, but...Long term I would love to work for Disney. In one of the Dis pod casts, they were talking about what Disney means to them, and they were talking about giving back to virtual strangers while at WDW. For example, Dustin went out of his way to help people, he went over and above what could be expected from a cast member. Well, that is exactly what I want to do. In so various job interviews I have had, I have been asked, what is my biggest flaw, and honestly my biggest flaw is also my best quality. I love helping people. My last trip, I won a little dinosaur on a game, and I gave it to a 5 yr old boy because he was sad that he didn't win. He was so happy and so was his mom and dad! They were so thankful... that just made my day. So IF I could do anything, I would live and breath Disney. I could even just sell balloons on the street...and I would be happy.

 

[rteetz]

I hope to eventually make it work. I plan on doing the college program in the next few years and then maybe after college working for Disney. I will be going into engineering so my dream is to become an Imagineer. If that doesn't happen it will still be play for me, its a win win situation.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Work would spoil it for me. Then there is the unbearable heat. And I would miss the mountains.

Yup.

I would NOT want to deal with those people walking through the turnstyle, not everyone is as cool as they are in the DIS and the pay is God awful

 

[KingLlama]

Work.

BUT....not as a career.

Every time we visit(which is usually in the off-season), we notice several older folks working as cast members. In talking with them, we've discovered that many of them are folks who retired from their original careers and simply loved Disney so much that they decided to pursue employment at WDW as a post-career way of making extra $$$ and being involved with Disney. I think THAT sounds like fun.

 

[Goofy DVC]

For me, Disney is pretty much perfect is many ways. Working there would expose all the problems that exist that I don't now know about and don't want to know about.
Just play, thank you very much.

 

[LittleDreamer]

In my mind the thought of working for Disney appeals to me, but not sure how it would be in reality. As I'm going around the parks I love to think of ways to improve rides and attraction. I go home and start writing notes, scribbling pictures, and doing research; all for just my own personal desires. It seems like being an creative or engineer would be wonderful but I also realize that it's a big corporation.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by part of the Universal Creative team (there was 6-8 members there) and to here them talk it sounded great. But that is when I started thinking about what is Imagineering like today. The impression for the Universal staff is that they are still a relatively small group. That each employee could talk to each other easily. That employees started picking up new skills because they were needed and grew which happens more often in small businesses were as large businesses will just hire specialist. And that makes me wonder what Imagineering is like today. I feel like Universal Creative is a period like when Disney first started the Disneyland team. That a small team is encourage to branch out, explore, and try new things. Where as I feel like Imagineering current state is more corporate, more structured, and harder to get thoughts heard. My reservation as mostly speculation but they are still in my head.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Work.

BUT....not as a career.

Every time we visit(which is usually in the off-season), we notice several older folks working as cast members. In talking with them, we've discovered that many of them are folks who retired from their original careers and simply loved Disney so much that they decided to pursue employment at WDW as a post-career way of making extra $$$ and being involved with Disney. I think THAT sounds like fun.

While DH doesn't share this dream, this is one of my retirement goals I've been kicking around for a while.

 

[KingLlama]

Tigger and I agree on something?

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Tigger and I agree on something?

I know! Crazy, isn't it?

 

[Andrea1973]

honestly, I would love to meet up with Kathy and just park hop and be a Disney Greeter, helping anyone and everyone that we meet in a day. Bring our love of Disney to Disney everywhere we go and share our knowledge and learn all at the same time.

If we come across a cast member needs a drink, we grab a drink; a guest needs help with stroller parking, we help them with that, we see a mess we either clean it up or "gently suggest" to the Disney Gods to pay attention to a part of the park that needs sprucing up!

Be all that we can be! @safetymom what you think about that...?

 

[OKW Lover]

Hmmm, lets see.

• When I was working I often wished that I could get a job doing what I knew best at Disney (especially if it would pay as well). Unfortunately, my skill was not something that Disney would need. Well, they (actually RCID) probably have one person that did the kind of work it did. So, that wasn't going to happen.
• When I was making my retirement plans, I always thought that I'd get a part-time job working at WDW in some menial role. Nothing fancy; perhaps an attractions host, or even something back stage. Just so I could be part of the team that makes the magic. And get some CM benefits like free admission and merchandise discounts.
• Now that I'm retired and living only a couple of miles away, I'm too busy enjoying my retirement to work for Disney.

Funny how things work out.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Work would spoil it for me. Then there is the unbearable heat. And I would miss the mountains.

Totally agree on everything you said - except - I don't live in the "mountainous areas" of New Jersey.

 

[SaraMc]

I was a CM for 7 years. And while It was a great experience and something I would never trade. When it was time to leave Disney, it was time. I worked in The Disney store and while its not the parks at the time I worked there it was soley owned by Disney. It was a great starting place in my career. There are things I learned there that I use every day in my career now. But those were lean years, hoping to get promoted. I found once I left Disney I loved it more. I love being a guest more than a CM. I don't fit into the grooming guidelines anymore, I have visible tattoo's. I might go back as a senior retired in Florida, but Id have to wear long sleeve shirts.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Ummm... I don't think I'd ever want to work in Disney just because even though I love my job: work = stress and for me Disney = relax.

Also, thinking of work outside my discipline, I wouldn't want to work in a service job in the parks because I'd have to deal with the general public who can be rude and obnoxious. which is usually doubled when their on vacation.

 

[SoarinSC]

I do dream about working for Disney one day...preferrably Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, or operating a monorail...I do have some worry of the work ruining Disney for me for whatever reason...but then again it's just a worry so I wouldn't let it stop me if the opportunity popped up. I've left places that have gotten unbearable before, so if it goes that route, I'll just quit, do something else, and become just a visitor again.

 

[ninecrayons]

The idea of being a CM has been something I've thought of on and off. The idea of the access you would get is kind of nifty.

However, the trade off of what you have to deal with is just too much for me. My best friend is a CM and I've heard enough stories about what you sometimes have to deal with it, I just couldn't do it.

And, at the end of the day, Disney really is my "get away" place. It's the place I go to just enjoy myself and get away from the stress of work.

 

[DisLUV]

I got the best of both worlds. I get to be a CM at my local Disney store and I get all the perks that come with that title. But I also get to help others as a travel agent and the perks of helping ppl make vacation dreams come true. So I love the parks and they are vacation for me. Then I get to come home and be a CM.