Merchandise Role

[SkyinNeverland]

Hello everyone! I have been accepted for a merchandise role in wdw! I was wondering if anyone who was merchandise once could tell me about their experience?
I am most curious about when I find out where I get placed? Is there a preferred place to be? How are the hours? And anything else you wished you had known before you got there!
And if anyone else in this role comes up with more questions feel free to post them and this thread can help a couple people!

 

[katelynnstout]

Hello,

I was in the merchandise role at WDW in the Spring of 2013. You will find out where your location will be on your check-in day. As far as preferred locations, it really depends on your personal preferences. If you like late hours, Magic Kingdom is for you. If you like earlier hours, I would cross your fingers for Animal Kingdom. Other preferences could be based on high or low traffic, your costumes, and whatever scenery you prefer. But I can almost guarantee that you'll end up liking wherever you end up in the long run.

I was placed on Main Street East in the Magic Kingdom. That means I worked on the right side of the street in The Chapeau (hat shop), The Confectionary (candy store), The Town Square Theatre (photopass customers), The CCC (store after you meet Mickey/Princesses), The Cinema (art gallery) Uptown Jewelers (jewelry & clothing store), and three different outdoor carts (two on each side of the train station and one near the castle). We called our shifts by the colors of our costumes. If you were in brown, that meant you worked the shops rotation. If you were in yellow, you were in Confectionary all day. Sometimes if they needed extra hands, you could be pulled from brown to yellow by just slapping a hairnet on, but not vice versa. Yellow costumes couldn't step foot into the shops. There was also a stocker position, which was a blue shift. Blue shifts mean you stocked every single shop on Main Street East.

Main Street actually opens an hour before the park and remains open an hour after the park closes, so we had the craziest hours out of anyone. Most CP's close every time they work, so we would come in around 5:00 p.m. and leave around 1:00, 2:00, or 3:00 a.m. During Spring break or other busy times, expect to be scheduled until 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. Shifts were usually from 8-14 hours long, but we occasionally got shorter ones. If you really wanted to leave, you could put in an Early Request and hope for the best. If park hours were magically extended because of high traffic, we would be force extended as well, which means you are made to stay longer without a choice.

The way it worked:
You come to work dressed in the right color for the day. Clock in and get assigned a position. This is usually a register in one of the shops, part of a rotation, stocker, or greeter. Your position could be the same for 3 hours, or it could be on a rotation, in which you would change positions about every hour or so. For example, you could get assigned a register in the chapeau, then get transferred to an outdoor cart, then the photopass register, then the CCC. Stocker meant you would spend hours stocking one store. Greeter means you walk around and say hi to everyone for 3 hours. In the Confectionary, you could also be assigned Cotton Candy maker (the MOST HATED position) or Bulk puller, which meant you pulled fudge, cookies, cake pops, apples, and other sweets from a case for each guest.

I really feel like I got the best location. I got to see the Electrical parade every single night. I got to see the legendary 3'o'clock parade on early days. I got to at least hear the Celebrate the Magic castle show and Wishes firework show every night. On really good shifts, you could get lucky and be placed on outdoor carts or get your lunch at the same time as the fireworks so you could watch them.

With all that said, my managers and coworkers could be absolutely horrendous. There was a manager that made at least a few cast members cry daily. She even got me once. A lot of them didn't even bother knowing our names since we were temporary. Most of the part and full time workers treated us like we were stupid, and I can't really blame them. A lot of the CP's would mess around on the job, sit in the breakroom/utilidor while on the clock, hide in stockrooms, and pretty much do what they wanted. It made it hard for the few serious CP's to look good. And some days, it was really hard to acknowledge that you worked incredibly hard (if you did) and were never going to be appreciated for it.

Merchandise was boring at times, at least where I was located. We had an IMMENSE amount of cast members. I remember one day that I was in Uptown Jewelers, there were 17 cast members. The shop only had 6 registers. So when traffic was low we didn't always know what to do. Of course, I worked in fast food before my program, so I had grown accustomed to crazy intense stressful work days. I'm sure it was just me.

But, I still had an amazing time, met some interesting people, and fell even more in love with Disney and Florida. I have recently been accepted to a college in Florida, and plan on transferring and doing another DCP this Fall. The program even made me change my major. Ask me anything if you still have questions! Merchandise is great and I'm sure you'll love it!

 

[SkyinNeverland]

Hello,

I was in the merchandise role at WDW in the Spring of 2013.

Oh my goodness thank you so much! This really really helps give me a better idea of what I will be doing. I wish I knew my location before hand, but oh well. I work at a grocery store and am used to it getting pretty busy, but then again it can also be dead at times. And moving around seems a little confusing, at the grocery store the most I move is to a different check stand.
How do you know what uniform to get every day?
And congrats on college and moving to Florida! I love seeing what a difference this program can make in peoples lives.

 

[katelynnstout]

Thank you! And you're welcome!

On your schedule, which will be online, it says the time you'll be working and then below the time on each day it would say Confectionary or Main Street East. Some cast members checked out and returned a different costume every day. I preferred to take mine home and wash it, so I had the same two uniforms my entire College Program.

The moving around was nice, because it kept you from getting bored and you'd get to see different coworkers. I'm not sure that's normal though, because Main Street East has so many shops. I think most Merchandise CM's are assigned to one store, like the Emporium or Mouse Gears, but might rotate registers.

 

[MrsSparrow..]

Hi there! I had similar experiences to the above poster in many ways, I worked in Merchandise on Main Street USA, but on the West Side, so in the Emporium.

Hours were crazy; a standard shift would see me starting at around 3pm, and I'd usually finish around midnight or 1am. Some nights when we had Extra Magic Hours, the park would close at 2am, meaning I would sometimes finish at 3.30-4am! That happened more frequently towards the end of my program when I was trained on the 'stock' position. Once I was trained on stock half way through my program, I only did stocking shifts, besides 2 (however, I was an ICP so my program is shorter than the CP). The first half of my program I did registers, and like it was suggested above, we rotated around the registers throughout the store. There are 6 'zones' of the Emporium and certain registers, in particular the one next to Casey's, I really disliked! If you were there at night, you could go for a whole hour with no contact from another human being. But, I loved being on registers because of the guest interaction.

Sometimes you would get assigned 'Greeter' or 'Merchantaining' positions where you basically go out and interact with guests. I think that those moments made my program for me, I loved pin trading and giving out stickers. I am so glad I got merchandise. I initially wanted attractions but I think they are really limited in guest interaction in comparison to those of us in merch. Like the other poster, I came into work and would hear the 3pm parade, as well as hear the night-time parade and Wishes I loved that - I can still recite those parades word for word!

There are definite negatives to working on Main Street USA. Similar to above really, there are so many managers, many of whom I rarely saw! Getting to know your managers was difficult and some of the co-ordinators were really surly. To be honest, it's a real mixed bag. I assumed everyone would be wonderful, but there is no such job in reality. Although by and large, most people at the Emporium were a great bunch and I made some great friends there. It would be impossible to get to know everyone that works there, there are so many and quite frankly, it is often too busy. There isn't much 'downtime' to have casual chats. Also, I relied on buses to get me to and from work, which meant I had to leave for work about 1 and a half hours to maybe even 2 hours before my shift was due to start; Disney are incredibly strict about clocking-in on time! From speaking to merchies at other locations, the Emporium doesn't have many unique 'magic moments' to create and give to guests, or even the ones we did have, were usually only done in the mornings or if, quite frankly, you were 'in' with certain managers.

If you work in the Emporium, you also get the pleasure of being trained in 'Baby Care'; where you sell baby-related goods and watch over any lost children. You are mostly alone in that position, I really didn't enjoy it, but most people I worked with loved it. I'm not a particularly maternal person so it didn't appeal to me.

I am so glad I worked at the Emporium though, I wouldn't want to have been anywhere else. I actually requested it and despite the lack of sleep and frequent 12 hour shifts, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

If you have any more questions, I would be (and I'm sure other merchies too) be happy to answer them!

Just re-read your initial post: I think most people find out where they are working within the first few days of arriving. I found out earlier than most people, as I spoke to someone on the bus who searched my name on 'the Hub' (Disney's internal information website for cast members) and it said 'Main Street USA'. I'm not sure if you can still do that though!
And things I wish I knew before the program? Hmm, make sure you get a comfortable pair of shoes. Forget all sense of fashion and looking good, you will be standing up all day and will regret it if you don't! I also wish that I 'picked-up shifts' in other locations (this will be explained to you at some stage) and worked in different stores throughout the property.

 

[::Snow_White::]

I worked merch for Fall 2013. I worked Backlands at Hollywood Studios which spanned from Indiana Jones, down through Muppets, Streets of America, up to Backlot Tour. For Backlands you had 3 loops which consisted of different stores. Some days you'd specifically have Writers Stop, Floorstock, Tatooine Traders, Festival of Dancing Lights (in fall), and the Christmas Shop. On your schedule you'll see where you are working, we had 3 costumes, you'll know from your schedule which you will need.

Hollywood Studios is a pretty early-closing park during normal hours, usually closing sometime between 8-10. Most of my shifts were midday, so 11-6/7. You can get early shifts at like 6-2pm occasionally but those are pretty easy to trade off. During the holiday in the Fall the osborne spectacle of lights are put up on streets of america (if they continue them) and the park usually closes around 2pm. If you work then, you'll most likely be working 5-12 or 7-2 depending. It's really not too bad.

Backlands is kind of hard if you aren't a fan of Indiana, Star Wars or Muppets. I wasn't really a fan of any of them, though I loved streets of America. You come to love them after awhile. I liked that we closed early and it wasn't a main park so it wasn't AS crowded. It was also nice to not get tired of other parks, I did get tired of my section of the park and avoided it on my days off so I don't think I'd like working at MK.

It is kind of a bummer because there aren't any parades or anything but the lights are GORGEOUS. Certainly the best part. I had never worked merch or retail before but I got the hang of it pretty quick and enjoyed it. You meet a ton of people, they are generally happy and just enjoying their time. I only had a handful of angry guests and it was for things we couldn't control. Floorstock might have been my favorite, because sometimes you need a break from all the guests and it was repetitive work that was easy. Other than that I really enjoyed Tatooine the most and spent 56 hours there my first week. Workers there were GREAT, managers and coordinators were pretty cool. Overall it's a nice place, I miss it a lot.

 

[KMGtwirler]

I'm in merchandise at Epcot. Hopefully you'll hear from a cast member in all four parks! I did my college program in spring of 2013, but stayed seasonally because I'm an Orlando native. I'm not a retail-type person. I never wanted to work any job with a cash register or clothes, but you don't get to be picky when you work at Disney.

That being said, for the most part, I really enjoyed my location. I worked at Epcot Towers, which is the zone with the two stores in the World Showcase in between Canada and Mexico (the Duffy store), two outdoor carts, baby care, and glow. I'm the type of person that gets bored easily, so I was glad for the constant change of scenery. Baby care was a lot of fun. Basically you watch Disney movies all day long and occasionally sell some diapers to parents that ran out. I hated stocking shifts because it was a lot of manual labor and almost no guest interaction. Glow shifts are nice sometimes, and a little lengthy other times. It was hard in the spring when the sun didn't go down until 7:30, but we were standing outside at 5:30 trying to sell light up toys. My normal shifts were 4:30-10:30, with an occasional 10:30-10:30 shift thrown in there. Epcot closes at 9 every night and the World Showcase side doesn't open until 11, so our hours were pretty great. Most weeknights your ER (early release) requests were granted. If I worked a glow shift, I was there until 11:15, but that's the latest you'll get out of Epcot.

One of the best parts about my location is that it's right on the water, so I could watch the fireworks every night whether I was in the store, at the outdoor carts, or glowing (which was the best view, and you could see it from various places in the World Showcase, depending on where you were stationed that night). I can literally conduct Illuminations now, but it still never gets old.

My location must have been unique in the fact that the managers and coordinators really liked the CPs. I think Epcot (especially the World Showcase) is more sensitive to us, because most of the showcase workers are ICPs that are only there for a short time too. A lot of college program people in my area that chose to extend were trained as coordinators, so there was an opportunity for leadership positions. We also gave each other Guest Service Fanatic cards like they were candy, so our record cards all look great. Because it was a smaller location, there was some internal drama that I didn't bother to get involved with, and our stocking shed rarely carried the items we needed.

I really enjoyed working at Epcot. It doesn't have the chaos of Magic Kingdom, the hours are great, you meet a lot of international guests and cast members, and there's really cool events like Flower and Garden, Food and Wine, or Candlelight throughout the year. Although I'm not a huge fan of merchandise, the advantage is that it's really easy to pick up and give away shifts because any merchandise cast member from any park can take or give away their shift. No extra training in that area is needed. Hope this helps! Enjoy your program. :]

 

[Goofy4WDW1964]

Just re-read your initial post: I think most people find out where they are working within the first few days of arriving. I found out earlier than most people, as I spoke to someone on the bus who searched my name on 'the Hub' (Disney's internal information website for cast members) and it said 'Main Street USA'. I'm not sure if you can still do that though!

I just wanted to point out that someone on another site had mentioned this and several alumni had pointed out not to do this because if Disney found out about it, both people could be terminated. Not judging or anything. I just wanted to let you know.

 

[khancock]

I dont know if both people could get in trouble, but the current active cast member could.

The Hub is for internal use only. Providing info that is intended for internal use (no matter how benign one may think it is) is a big no-no.

Plus College Recruiting can change someone's location at the last second too.

It is safe to assume that if College Recruiting wanted/was able to release this info, they definitely would. There would be a reason that they do not and people ought to think before they do something to "help" someone else out (or really just to feed their own ego by offering that info).