How do the characters stand out in the heat?

[Mecha Figment]

on 2 feet...*JK*
they have the option of wearing an ice vest but most of them dont b/c they melt quickly and become extra weight. They are just strong willed

um noooo. thats just parade.


and to answer some questions indirectly nobody shares anything.

it's conditioning.

Animal Kingdom is the worst.

the pay isn't great, and for most people the hours aren't good. i'm in a very useful height range.

 

[Gymbomom]

What about when they are in the parades???? WOW, I can;t imagine how HOT they are!!!

 

[resol37]

You know, I can't imagine that Disney is a horrible paying job. Theres no way that you could just get lucky and hire 50,000 people ( or whatever the amount is ) that are all smiles and willing to work for peanuts. Even if it IS Disneyworld. To keep the cast members at a Disney standard level, they have to be giving them some decent wages and benefits.

A sizeable chunk of Walt Disney World's employees are College Program interns. I don't know how much Full Time, Part Time or Seasonal employees make, but in the Spring of 2004, CPs made $6 an hour (I remember attempting to buy a margarita in Mexico at Epcot, but getting out of line when I realized it would cost $7 - more than an hour's worth of work). I know they have increased the hourly rate for CPs since then, but can't remember the exact amount. I made more working as a cashier in a grocery store. CPs can become characters and would be paid the same amount as any other CP. The benefits, as I remember them, were free entry to the parks, discounts on merch and TS restaurants (we also got a cheaper ticket price for movies at the AMC at DTD - which I used quite often). We did not get any discounts on CS food. We had free entry to PI two nights a week and free entry to the water parks and DisneyQuest during the month of Feb. No health insurance was offered - when I was accepted to the program I recieved a pamphlet from a local temporary health insurance program, but that was it.

The reason WDW hires so many people is the magic of the place. Who wouldn't want to work in a place where you can make people's dreams come true. The paragraph above this sounds like I was complaining, but I loved working there. People save money for months and years to experience WDW and I got to be there every day watching how happy these people were. There's no experience like it out in the "real world." Speaking of "real world," working at WDW also looks great on a resume. Plus, while the benefits are few (at least for CPs), being able to enjoy WDW any time for free is a pretty good one.

As far as the costumes, I was never in a costume, but a close friend was. My details may be off (and a current CM should feel free to correct me) however - CMs are usually only in costume for 15-20 minutes, may be indoors, outdoors or both during any given day and in a number of different costumes (which characters you can portray are decided mainly by height). If a CM in a costume is feeling ill, they can signal the character greeter who is with them and will be taken off stage.

 

[Mecha Figment]

i would love to clarify on some of this stuff for you but i'm still employed so I can't reveal this stuff in a public forum. You can however feel free to ask me. I dont' know everything just from my own experiences.

 

[mitros]

i would love to clarify on some of this stuff for you but i'm still employed so I can't reveal this stuff in a public forum. You can however feel free to ask me. I dont' know everything just from my own experiences.

Aw, go ahead and tell us, who's gonna know? I'll tell you how they operate the Wes Palm at AK and the Trash can out back.
{if you do not already know, that is}

 

[Mecha Figment]

Aw, go ahead and tell us, who's gonna know? I'll tell you how they operate the Wes Palm at AK and the Trash can out back.
{if you do not already know, that is}

i actulay know one of the guys who does them.

 

[AngieBelle]

i would love to clarify on some of this stuff for you but i'm still employed so I can't reveal this stuff in a public forum. You can however feel free to ask me. I dont' know everything just from my own experiences.

I second that! You may ask me in PMs, but I try to keep the main details off the public areas.

I will say that you'll be surprised what you can do when you try!

(and I've had experience with something I said here coming back to haunt me, so it can happen.)

 

[mattsdragon]

Having been a member of one of the military ceremonial honor guards in DC, and standing around in DC humidity in Class Alphas for hours waiting for a dignitary, I can tell you, it's a lot of will power. And the men and women that make this bit of magic for millions of children all deserve our applause and thanks.

 

[sweetinmaine]

The company that I work for has a mascot with a big, bulky costume. I never fail to get someone to wear it and walk in our town's 4th of July parade. These people usually tell me that while it is HOT inside they love to make the kids and adults along the parade route happy...For a short time they can be "out of their normal character" because no one knows who's inside.

 

[angel's momma]

On our trip last week, DD8 was very sympathetic towards the many costumed CMs that we saw without a line(in the newer, or seldom used areas - they main areas always had long lines) . She felt it was wrong that they were so hot & no one was even visiting them at the time, so we had to stop & take pictures with every one we saw like that (we normally don't get duplicates of characters we already have).