Princess Pay

[chalee94]

I remember being at Chef Mickey's as a kid (probably 11 or 12) and seeing a very short girl go into the back with black tights on. And then a while later....Mickey came out. MICKEY IS A GIRL?! WHAAAAA? My 12-year-old mind was blown.

At least now you won't be shocked by a suspiciously manly picture of Tinker Bell/Bill...

(photo stolen from Robo)

 

[disneylover1980]

I have read articles stating that a LOT of the positions are strictly height/weight based and then you are given a multitude of characters to "play" on a rotating basis. You have to be pretty short to play Mickey.

On an aside...my husband works with a woman who has a daughter that plays Belle on the DCL.....she told her mom that recently the person portraying Tink had a true and legitimate nervous breakdown and had to be flown from a port for help because she was in such serious condition. So sad!

 

[katt789]

As for pay; it's advertised on te audition website that face characters make $12.40 an hour. When you're doing fur or parades I've heard the number is different.

As for postions being strict, yes, everything is based off height. Tink runs 4'11 to 5'2, Alice/Wendy are around 4'11 to 5'4'', pricesses run 5'3 to 5'7, etc, etc.

Different roles have more restrictions, females have to be 5'6 at minimun to dance in the B &tB show, whereas the girl bird in FOTLK must be under 110 pounds.

 

[mvk]

When I did the CP in Fall 98, the pay was $5.65/HR. The minimum wage in 1998 was $5.15/HR.

 

[dreamerjlee]

They make enough. Around 12-13/hr, and work like 50-60 hours a week.

 

[Keels]

Face and fur make the same amount per hour. The bonus comes in for face because there are times when you're in more demand and you can get more hours. Plus, you get more breaks and more show/parade/specials opportunities.

And entertainment (parades/characters/non-equity shows) make the most hourly in the parks over other areas.

Almost all characters and parade performers start as fur exclusively first. Then you can go to "face auditions", which used to happen quarterly (unless there was an extreme demand for a character). They look at you and look at you, hold your picture up to images from the movies. If they think you look like someone, you move on to another round where you get fitted in wig/makeup/costume and go in front of casting.

If they "approve" you, you get trained on mannerisms, voice inflection, autograph, etc.

Most gals are approved for multiples - ie., if you're Belle-approved, you're probably also Ariel and Cindy approved, and maybe Poppins too.

Most Wendys are also Alice, because of height. And for the princesses, they really stick to height.

For fur, you're broken up into different categories that roughly go like this -

4'11-under: Duck (Donald, Daisy)
5'0" - 5'3ish: Mouse (Mickey, Minnie)
5'3"-5'6ish": Munk (Chip & Dale)
5'6-5'9": Pluto
5'9"-6': Tigger
6'+: Goofy

 

[lockedoutlogic]

They make enough. Around 12-13/hr, and work like 50-60 hours a week.

Wow...that's like a BILLION or something

 

[Polydweller]

About .50 above minimum wage...

And to give you a hint... Florida is one of those "All-star" states with a lower state wage the federal (the federal applies except for a couple of exceptions)

Disney is a minimum wage operation by and large ( or pennies above it)...college program kids are paid less (or at least used to be) as an internship (they learn alot... But I'm not sure it's rightly labeled "academic")...and Disney received subsidies for those under part of the Clinton educational package.

Well, the Union contract (available online) disagrees with you. There are no jobs on the Teamster contract for 2013 that are minimum wage which for Florida is $7.79, all are above minimum with starting wages in all but a handful (2-4) being $8+ to $9+. Disney is not a minimum wage place but I'll let you review the entire contract. Character performers wage range is between $9.60 and $14.31 per hour for 2013.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Well, the Union contract (available online) disagrees with you. There are no jobs on the Teamster contract for 2013 that are minimum wage which for Florida is $7.79, all are above minimum with starting wages in all but a handful (2-4) being $8+ to $9+. Disney is not a minimum wage place but I'll let you review the entire contract. Character performers wage range is between $9.60 and $14.31 per hour for 2013.

It's a little better than I would have thought...

However $8-9 dollars is an average of about $17,500 a year...so lets not toot any horns. And it's not much over minimum...and livable is entirely different. And Disney is cheap for NOTHING these days. But that's the classic truth/propaganda argument I don't want to get Into.

One of the misconceptions is that it's "cheap to live in Florida"
It is...except for consumer goods, gas, food, and utilities...and in alot of cases entertainment (designed to pull in that evil "Yankee" money)

But another thing is that the teamsters doesn't represent the lion share of employees ( if memory serves and I did live this gig)...there are other large unions...namely 5...the services trade council being the highest at 50% of the total (which does include the teamsters... I believe... But other unions as well)

The reality is that Disney's compensation and benefits are...kinda blah...not the worst... Far from the best.

The real questions are
1. Have the benefits relative to inflation fallen since 1971?
2. Has the pricing risen relative to Inflation... Notably from 1990 and especially since 2008?

Those are the questions that matter and they should not be separated...
Disney does that.

 

[kathy884]

My nephew is in the college program right now. He's having a blast, thinks it's great experience, but also said it's kind of like slave labor in that you get all the shifts that the part time and full time employees don't want, sometimes even working till 11 p.m. or midnight and needing to be back at 7 or 8 the next morning. Most of his roommates are from different countries (sort of like an international college program) and they work at Epcot in the world showcase. He thinks it's so cool that he has great friends from other countries now and places to couch surf if he does some international travel. My nephew works in the kid program and gift shop at the Polynesian. I think they slated him with the kids program due to experience he's had as a camp counselor and experience with art and drama and working in an afterschool program doing art and drama projects with special needs kids. He also just has that great Disney look and customer service attitude. He's actually a really charismatic kid. / As a career he wants to become an event planner and that's what he's going to be majoring in in college.

 

[pitterpint23]

Princess Pay in Disney World starts around $12/hour for CPs, part/full time cast members may start at a different rate but it wouldn't be too far off from $12.

I was paid 7.50 in 2010 as a cp

 

[SultanPprShkr]

It's fairly obvious to see who is a girl and who is a guy in the fur characters.. if you really sit and watch their mannerisms from sitting, walking and even standing while waiting for the next person to come up to take a picture with them. Plutos, Goofys and Tiggers tend to be guys since they're so tall and/or are long limbed. This also applies to other characters like Woody, Jessie, Buzz may or may not be since he's shorter.. Frozone and Mr Incredible are both taller characters. Sully, etc.

As for princesses.. I think it has to do more with height and your overall acting talent/ability. DLR has Cindy and Aurora and Belle interchangeable - and I know this because I have an unusually large and unique autograph book.. and each time I got to meet these lovely ladies to get their autograph.. they recognized it after the first time. By the third time, (then Cindy), said, "Oh I remember you! How are you? What have you been up to?" Which I felt was out of character because that was truly my actual first time meeting Cinderelly.

That being said, Snow was great when I said I loved her on OUAT, and she said she liked stories that start with OUAT.. and i said it's a tv show, and she asked what's that. LOL... she's funny tho.. caught her photobombing at 2012 DL Half Marathon during the course and she said "i have no idea what you're talking about" all coy. haha.

 

[Skjhjb]

CPs = character performers? Also, my husband wondered whether there was some sort of character hierarchy to climb. Can you start with one character and climb the ladder to be Mickey? Does Mickey make more money? Or do they train to be one character and stick with it?

The dd of a very good friend of mine just started this week on one of the Disney ships, after two months of rehearsals in Toronto. She's 18, and this is her first Disney job.

While I don't know her salary, I do know that in addition to being a principal dancer in several shows, she gets to be Minnie and Stitch as well. So no "working up" to Minnie or Mickey.

They did tell me that the face characters make less $$ than the costumed characters (although that could be in her case because she is also a dancer)

 

[rantnnravin]

Face and fur make the same amount per hour. The bonus comes in for face because there are times when you're in more demand and you can get more hours. Plus, you get more breaks and more show/parade/specials opportunities.

And entertainment (parades/characters/non-equity shows) make the most hourly in the parks over other areas.

Almost all characters and parade performers start as fur exclusively first. Then you can go to "face auditions", which used to happen quarterly (unless there was an extreme demand for a character). They look at you and look at you, hold your picture up to images from the movies. If they think you look like someone, you move on to another round where you get fitted in wig/makeup/costume and go in front of casting.

If they "approve" you, you get trained on mannerisms, voice inflection, autograph, etc.

Most gals are approved for multiples - ie., if you're Belle-approved, you're probably also Ariel and Cindy approved, and maybe Poppins too.

Most Wendys are also Alice, because of height. And for the princesses, they really stick to height.

For fur, you're broken up into different categories that roughly go like this -

4'11-under: Duck (Donald, Daisy)
5'0" - 5'3ish: Mouse (Mickey, Minnie)
5'3"-5'6ish": Munk (Chip & Dale)
5'6-5'9": Pluto
5'9"-6': Tigger
6'+: Goofy

so since i'm just under 4'10, i have no hope of ever being Mickey? That was my retirement plan!

 

[katt789]

so since i'm just under 4'10, i have no hope of ever being Mickey? That was my retirement plan!

Fur characters actually start at 4'7'' The posting for character performers for WDW on disneyauditions.com