leaving career to work at Disney

[LSUTigerDISfreak]

anyone have any experience in leaving a career to work for Disney? My wife thinks I'm crazy. I am a 46 year old investment broker with my own firm. Been thinking a lot lately about eventually moving to WDW and seeking employment in the next few years. If so, let me know what your experiences were. have no idea what level of employment would be available, how much of a pay cut I would have, etc etc ... what is out there ? thanks !

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

anyone have any experience in leaving a career to work for Disney? My wife thinks I'm crazy. I am a 46 year old investment broker with my own firm. Been thinking a lot lately about eventually moving to WDW and seeking employment in the next few years. If so, let me know what your experiences were. have no idea what level of employment would be available, how much of a pay cut I would have, etc etc ... what is out there ? thanks !

You are going to leave your career as an investment broker for a probable minimum wage job? I hope you've stashed away a lot of funds. Honestly no offence but it sounds like a mid life crisis.

 

[rwdavis2]

Have you checked out the Disney career web site? Disney does not pay that well even for high level jobs.

 

[Mirielle]

You are going to leave your career as an investment broker for a probable minimum wage job? I hope you've stashed away a lot of funds. Honestly no offence but it sounds like a mid life crisis.

My exact thoughts when reading the OP.

 

[Allons-y!]

I think your wife is very intelligent.

 

[Tinkermommy]

I agree with your wife.

 

[KateP85]

Your wife is right. Your are crazy.

 

[Missy1961]

No way, no how. Leave a great job to maybe get a minimum wage job? I have to agree with the others - that's crazy.

 

[Luvstotravel]

Are you independently wealthy? If so, then go for it. If not, then NO!!

 

[TipsyTraveler]

YOLO?

 

[Mark P.]

Believe me, I get it...But hang in there!
We can't stand the cold and hate NJ even more, and 10 years back or so, we toyed with the idea but reason always overrode our scheme,lol.

Do you have a target year for retirement?
I am also 46 and will be done in 2019 (for my 25 years full retirement), and we considered the idea of us working at Disney at that time, but we're set on Sarasota.
Can't wait!

 

[minnie mum]

Did your wife look something like this: ?

Unless you are in a position to retire now and live comfortably on your savings, then I don't think that selling up and moving to Orlando (or LA) is very realistic. Do you have a skill set, with the work experience to back it up, that Disney would want? Have you checked out Disney Careers website?

 

[usnuzuloose]

Minimum wage does not even cover health ins. Or anything else. I hope you rethink about this issue. You have something established.

 

[wilkeliza]

So most entry level positions at Disney start at $8.03 which 1/3 of their employees make. There was some contract negotiations 2 years ago that was suppose to bring the wage up to $10 but I have no clue if it passed or not since I no longer work there.

As much as I would love to go back I wouldn't leave my 35K a year job to go back so I couldn't imagine leaving an investment banking job to go work for Disney.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I side with your wife.

 

[NewRVLady]

OP- I see you have started a few threads over time on this subject

Is it when life gets you down? Or when work isn't fun?
Honestly- working there isn't the fun of staying there... I've followed a couple who tried and ultimately went back to their old lives

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Yeah, no.


Could you relocate your business to FL so you could enjoy WDW more frequently? At least then you could afford to, you know, eat.

 

[low-key]

come on people, he is going to get to work with Micky Mouse, who could put a price on that

 

[IndyRnRfan]

I'd move to Florida, get a job outside of Disney, then enjoy wdw all year long. Of course, you hit the powerball, I'd quit and take any job with Disney and if it didn't work out, see ya.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

If this is something you want I would look into it further. Everybody seems to be talking about a job in the parks but is that what you mean? Disney has a lot of behind the scenes jobs too. As a former Director of Purchasing with a large private food company, when our company was sold a few years back I considered the same thing. I had a couple of connections in my network that were connected with Disney and found a few possible opportunities. My wife was encouraging me to evaluate all opportunities. The pay was definitely reasonable. Ultimately I moved on to the banking industry and we stayed in PA but Disney was at least worth evaluating. I will say I took a 25% pay cut to make this move to banking and it's the best thing I ever did. My quality of life has never been better!

I say figure out what skills you have and evaluate the options. Would it hurt to go down for an interview...I don't think so!