leaving career to work at Disney

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Giving up a "real career" to be a low-paid hourly worker is never a good move unless you've got enough savings to live on for the rest of your life. I love my job but the money's not something I could manage if I had a family or a mortgage.

However, Disney does hire plenty of people for non-hourly jobs - it sounds like you've got a fair amount of education and experience in your field. You might be able to find job postings on the Disney Careers site for financial-related positions.

 

[Micca]

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 !

Any chance you could create a division of your firm to operate out the Orlando area? This could give you the opportunity to spend more time near the parks without blowing up what you've built so far. Maybe then you could justify spending a few weeks at a time every month or two operating from your Florida office. When you reach retirement age, then you could think about making the area your permanent home, and even taking a low paying Disney job if you think you'd enjoy it, but not depend on it to sustain your lifestyle.

I think most folks would be much happier having a good job with a livable income where you can afford to visit WDW frequently rather than work there.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Of course I've thought about it! I'm afraid though if I turned my love of Disney into a low paying job I would start to NOT love it. I just travel there more often. It keeps me connected enough.

I'd say if you're financially set (Which I'm sure you are as an investment guru) and you think you'd love making the leap then go for it! If you can get DW on board that is.

 

[Albort]

when i worked at disney, we had many people who were just working there for fun. its a pretty chill job to be honest. i know one was a retired firemen, i know another guy who had a few rental properties, he worked for Disney simply for insurance.

like what some say, if your financially set, its a probable idea, if not, you should consider your options...

 

[NHdisneylover]

What seems reasonable to me:

Looking for work through Disney which utilizes your skills and pays a salary at least somewhat comparable to what you currently earn. If you are bale to find something, apply get through teh interview process and are offered a job, discuss with your spouse and if you both feel it would be a good move for you and the family and like the area you would live in, etc take the job and quit your current employment at that time.

What does not seem reasonable to me:

Quitting your current career before you have a new one lined up--there simply are not that many openings in Disney and a WHOLE lot of people who want them--this course of action is likely to leave you employed (and, IMO, if it comes to light in the interview process that you have already quit/moved that is much more likely to be viewed as impulsive and irresponsible than as some bold gesture that might indicate a desirable trait in am employ).

Quitting and moving to Florida to work in the parks. Again, even this kind of work is not guaranteed and as so man others point out, you would not really make anywhere close to what you have been. This is fine as something to enjoy in retirement but not as a career change.

Insisting on moving to Florida under any circumstance if your spouse is truly opposed to living there (would she have to give up a career? Leave family behind? Hate the heat?).

 

[jerseygal]

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!

Absolutely get it, you get to the point of become tired of stressful careers, hustle bustle, go go go! LSUtigerdisfreak, you are on the you on the younger side though. Maybe you could hang in and squeeze in some extra vacas per year to make it "more bearable"... Hate COLD more and more each year. Once youngest DS is done with college, hoping to pack it in and move to Florida also, love west coast also. Close enough to WDW, but gorgeous beaches.

 

[Alesia]

Listen to your wife.

Disney is not a magical fairyland - it's a corporation. One that doesn't pay particularly well in an area with a very high cost of living. There is a huge homelessness problem in Orlando which can, in large part, be attributed to people who decided to quit their real lives and go to work at WDW.

 

[Allison]

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

A price could be put on it pretty easily. It's called a budget.

 

[littlejimmy]

don't listen to all the nay sayers. it sounds like a great idea to me. in the words of mr nike: "just do it!"

 

[NewRVLady]

Your post reminds me of a few Stars-in-their-Eyes Disney super fans folks who left everything to "follow their dream"

you might want to read this one ....really sad

http://disboards.com/threads/within...ind-to-go-work-for-walt-disney-world.3414134/

 

[rwdavis2]

So the OP has disappeared?

 

[Topper]

So the OP has disappeared?

I think he's in the process of moving

 

[TAX GUY]

I'm in the follow your dream boat. If you are able to do something you love AND get paid for it all while providing for you/your family, then why not? I have no idea what your financial situation is. Only you know that and only you know what you can and can't do, financially. I'm fortunate enough to love what I do and earn enough to provide for me and my family. We live a life style we are comfortable with. Each person has different needs and wants. Good luck in what ever decision you make.

 

[DawnM]

Depends. My husband worked for Disney in the tax department. He made about the same as he did in a regular tax firm. He stayed until Disney decided to outsource to PW.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I'm in the follow your dream boat. If you are able to do something you love AND get paid for it all while providing for you/your family, then why not? I have no idea what your financial situation is. Only you know that and only you know what you can and can't do, financially. I'm fortunate enough to love what I do and earn enough to provide for me and my family. We live a life style we are comfortable with. Each person has different needs and wants. Good luck in what ever decision you make.

There are responsible ways to follow dreams and irresponsible ways though.

This poster started off over a year ago wanting to know if Disney had jobs he could do from home. Then posed essentially this exact same question a few months ago.
At no point does the poster seem to have any serious idea of what the "dream" is beyond the very basic idea that working for Disney is somehow likely to be magical just because of how much he enjoys visiting WDW.
This is not really the same as having dreamt of getting to work wit the public as they see WDW for the first time, or having always wanted to sing in the Barbershop Quartet, etc. And based on the minimal content in the questions, even months apart, it appears little to no research has gone into what jobs the poster might be suited to, what they pay, if his family (he has teens, it would appear) can live off of that, or even if he actually might enjoy living in the Orlando area (so many people jump at "move to Disney" without even visiting the area they will actually live and finding out if it appeals to them--I am astounded by this).

It is one thing to have a dream, and work on making it a reality and quite another to chase a fantasy and just expect pixie dust to make everything work out.

In any event, I kid of think that the PP who first brought up the old posts (I would not have thought to search otherwise) was somewhat right---the OP probably gets in a funk every once in a while and when he does begins to dream about just quitting and moving to Disney, but isn't really serious about it.

 

[LSUTigerDISfreak]

I wasn't exactly going to apply for a minimum wage position. I mean this is why I started the thread people - I have no idea what is out there. Does Disney just promote everyone from within ?

 

[pryncess527]

They have a handful of financial sector jobs on their career page
http://tinyurl.com/glkzocm

 

[eliza61]

Ok so I'll be the devil's advocate.

First, I'm going with the assumption that you are financially set. As an investment banker with your own firm that is totally possible.
Next, check out the website "early-retirement. com. tons of happy folks who retired early, left well paying jobs and who are blissfully happy NOT working 9/5

lastly, my friend and her husband did some thing similar. NOW full disclosure they don't have kids. Both were/are high powered attorneys. ridiculously stressful, very high paying.
He quite his job to be a........LUMBERJACK!! at age 49
Believe me, they got a lot of "are you crazy" comments.
5 years later, they are stupidly happy. The job has sort of morphed from lumberjack to state park worker but now they also building a non profit dedicated to exposing inner city kids to nature.

Where they use to make easy 250K a year, they may bring in 35K a year. they are seriously some of those "annoyingly" happy people you want to slap first thing in the morning because they are always going on about how great life is......

Now for the big gal portion of this talk.

My friend and her husband did not just roll out of bed, quite their jobs and move to Wisconsin with an axe. They made a plan, they have a Financial planner, documents, budgets etc. they had to take classes on how a 501C organization works.

Do your homework THEN quite your job.

Also don't think "either" "or". my friends are still lawyers, both you and them have occupations where you can pick up contract work if you need to.

You can get your credentials to do financial planning (you probably already do) and take on clients while getting your "Disney" on.

 

[rwdavis2]

I wasn't exactly going to apply for a minimum wage position. I mean this is why I started the thread people - I have no idea what is out there. Does Disney just promote everyone from within ?

Have looked at their careers page yet?

 

[LisaR]

I wasn't exactly going to apply for a minimum wage position. I mean this is why I started the thread people - I have no idea what is out there. Does Disney just promote everyone from within ?

It sounds like this is the third thread you've started on this subject. At some point, it will be up to you to figure out what is out there especially if you want to convince your wife. Like others have suggested, maybe this is just a boredom thing, but if you really are serious, you'll need to do the research required to see if it really can work for your family.