Questions

[bombygriz]

So my mom and I were talking about the CP, and we (meaning she) was wondering about some things.

Do you end up with money left over after rent and taxes? What's the pay rate? My mom said I'd be starving if I had to pay $90 a week for rent after taxes. Obviously from what people have said it has to be a good about of money left, or else people wouldn't be doing the CP!

What is free onsite? Laundry? Bussing?

TIA!

 

[merfsko]

When I went I took $200 cash with me, as back up- and I didn't used any of it. other than that I had no trouble living off my wage- and I definately wasn't budgeting I ate out a LOT and bought lots of merchandise. I wasn't planning on bringing any money home, and I still somehow managed to come with extra cash

Laundry is $1 per wash load and a $1 per dry load; and when you initially purchase your laundry card you pay $5 for a $4 credit.

Bussing is free, and takes you to all the parks, Wal-Mart/Publix, and they have special busses once a week or so that will take you to Florida Mall, markets, etc. Of course, you can take Florida transit if you want to somewhere the busses don't go, but it wasn't that expensive- I think $2? Cheaper than transit where I live, that's for sure.

I think if you're smart about your money, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[bombygriz]

When I went I took $200 cash with me, as back up- and I didn't used any of it. other than that I had no trouble living off my wage- and I definately wasn't budgeting I ate out a LOT and bought lots of merchandise. I wasn't planning on bringing any money home, and I still somehow managed to come with extra cash

Laundry is $1 per wash load and a $1 per dry load; and when you initially purchase your laundry card you pay $5 for a $4 credit.

Bussing is free, and takes you to all the parks, Wal-Mart/Publix, and they have special busses once a week or so that will take you to Florida Mall, markets, etc. Of course, you can take Florida transit if you want to somewhere the busses don't go, but it wasn't that expensive- I think $2? Cheaper than transit where I live, that's for sure.

I think if you're smart about your money, you shouldn't have any problems.

Did you have to pay taxes? Was it automatically taken out or did you get some sort of bill? (Sorry, mom is being REALLY snoopy here xD)

So the pay is obviously not minimum wage then...

 

[Adpi<>Belle]

They do take out taxes right from your paycheck..

And yes it is min wage. I just got my acceptance letter and will be making 7.25 for attractions. that is actually less than min. wage.

The way you make so much $ is you work 40+ hours generally in a week. And anything over 40 hrs is time and a half... so you are making alot more than you would be making in any other general job.

does that help?

 

[piratechick]

Did you have to pay taxes? Was it automatically taken out or did you get some sort of bill? (Sorry, mom is being REALLY snoopy here xD)

So the pay is obviously not minimum wage then...

Yes, taxes are taken out of the paycheck. And no, you are getting payed minimum wage. Disney just gives you enough hours to pay the rent and still have some money left over. Your normal work week would be around 40-45 hours and during busy weeks, around 50+ hours. In my last program, during normal weeks, I would take home around $140-$170 a week after rent and taxes were taken out. During peak weeks, I would take home around $200+ a week because I got a lot of overtime hours as well. And I stayed in a three bedroom apartment at Patterson (Patterson is the most expensive complex), so I was paying $94 a week. You just have to learn how to budget well. They also tell you from the beginning that you won't be making a lot of money. And in my opinion, I think the experience you go through more than makes up for it. Remember, it's an internship! Most internships don't even pay you anything!

 

[robinsonsfan]

They do take out taxes right from your paycheck..

And yes it is min wage. I just got my acceptance letter and will be making 7.25 for attractions. that is actually less than min. wage.

The way you make so much $ is you work 40+ hours generally in a week. And anything over 40 hrs is time and a half... so you are making alot more than you would be making in any other general job.

does that help?

$7.25 is actually the minimum wage in the state of Florida.

 

[BabySimba]

Did you have to pay taxes? Was it automatically taken out or did you get some sort of bill? (Sorry, mom is being REALLY snoopy here xD)

So the pay is obviously not minimum wage then...

Correct me if I'm wrong but the taxes for things like water, electricity, heating/air conditioning and internet/phone service would be included in your rent, I believe.

The only thing I myself (being a foreigner) would worry about would be health insurance. I live in Canada where health care is government run and we don't deal with health insurance companies. I'd be worried about paying for the insurance because I am definitely not going down there for a year without it!

 

[bombygriz]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the taxes for things like water, electricity, heating/air conditioning and internet/phone service would be included in your rent, I believe.

The only thing I myself (being a foreigner) would worry about would be health insurance. I live in Canada where health care is government run and we don't deal with health insurance companies. I'd be worried about paying for the insurance because I am definitely not going down there for a year without it!

I'm actually on my parents' insurance for now, and I think it covers until age 26 if you claim children as college students.

Time and a half-sounds awesome! I don't mind working major holidays like Christmas, so I would definetly work then too. I really don't spend a lot of money anyways. I'll have to learn how to budget when it comes to food, but that shouldn't be too hard.

So to continue with some questions, if you are not working is it free to get into the parks (I'm talking by myself)? Do you have days off if you take some classes as well?

 

[grlwonder]

I also have a question concerning the money: When you're done with the program, how do you take home the money that you still have left?

I know by reading the threads that you receive a sort of debit card where your money is put in, but can you still use the card afterward or can you receive the money in cash?

 

[slp1650]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the taxes for things like water, electricity, heating/air conditioning and internet/phone service would be included in your rent, I believe.

The only thing I myself (being a foreigner) would worry about would be health insurance. I live in Canada where health care is government run and we don't deal with health insurance companies. I'd be worried about paying for the insurance because I am definitely not going down there for a year without it!

By taxes I believe they're talking about government taxes like social security and what not. Disney should take those out before you go and I believe that utilities (water, electricity, etc) are included with rent.

Trust me, this is looking nice considering I currently pay $760 plus utilities in my house at school. But hey, I live 3 streets from the beach and my house is one of the nicest in area.

 

[DisneyGirlie]

I know by reading the threads that you receive a sort of debit card where your money is put in, but can you still use the card afterward or can you receive the money in cash?

WHAT?! lol. Really? Why don't we just get normal paychecks? Where can this card be used then?

 

[YesIStillLoveDisney]

To clear up some confusion:

The card is just one option. You can get a paper check but you have to pay a small fee for it. You also have the option to do direct deposit (by far the easiest). Or you can do the pay card.

The pay card is basically a debit card and is used like one. Essentially your money is just direct deposited into a Partners! credit union account associated with the card. You can still go to the Partners! atm and get cash. It can be nice if you don't have a bank with branches in the area because they have ATM's is all the cast areas and a branch on I-Drive right by Patterson and Chatham.

Sun Trust is the major bank in the area and also has atm's in cast areas and near by branches.

Chase has atm's in all the guest areas and parks but the nearest branch is by the Florida mall.

I had a Chase account from back home and stuck with that because all my accounts and loans and credit card were through them. I do almost all of my banking online so I only had to drive up to the branch once or twice to deposit a check (like my birthday). My mom is also listed as a owner on my account so she could deposit checks for me or transfer money from her account to mine or vice versa. When I needed cash I just got it in the parks or stopped at a resort to use the ATM in the lobby. I rarely used cash though so it was never a problem.

Those are the only banks in the area I can think of but if anyone else can think of more, please add to the list.

 

[DisneyGirlie]

If you choose direct deposit, will they deposit it into any bank account? I have Bank of America and noticed that wasn't one of the banks you listed, but I keep up with most of my account info online and would only go to the bank to deposit the check. Which i'd really rather not have the physical check if there's a small fee. Why bother?

 

[mickeyonasticky]

I bank at a local credit union, and I have my checks direct deposited into my account.

 

[mare07]

You can direct deposit into any checking account, you'll just have to know the routing number and your account #. Your trainer can help you set it up if you have questions (or someone else around, everyone I knew did direct deposit). On your paycheck you'll see all the normal deductions (social security, etc) and rent, and then you get the rest. When I was working I never had a problem, but you definitely won't be able to be extravagent. My friends and I did everything we wanted including trips to Kennedy or Miami. You just might have to save a bit when it comes to something a little more expensive. Disney pays you every week and I always found that to be rather helpful when it came to budgeting b/c you knew you'd have more money every Thursday. My friends were okay even if they had to call out sick one week and only worked 4 days or something.

If you aren't working you can get into the parks for free and there are a lot of other things you can do for free around the area if you know where to look. Disney provides busses to a lot of places, but it pays to bring your car or befriend someone with a car to get around easier. You always get 2 days off, however, if you're taking classes then your class day WILL BE one of your days off. Disney tries to make the days off consecutive so if you have class on Monday then you'll most likely have either Sunday/Monday or Monday/Tuesday as your days off. CP's don't have seniority and are given whatever shifts are left after the Full-Time CM's bid for their days off, meaning most (not all) CP's will get a weekday "weekends" (it's always someone's "Friday" at Disney!). When I was a CP and had Tuesday/Wednesday almost all my friends had those days off, or we at least shared one day, so it was nice. Plus, you don't have to fight the crowds of shoppers or anything if you go to the mall b/c most normal people are working!

 

[YesIStillLoveDisney]

Yeah, any bank is fine to be direct deposited into an account, the ones I listed are just the ones easily found around Disney. If you bank somewhere else just keep in mind that you may have trouble getting cash without paying fees.

Also, just because you don't get a paper check doesn't mean you won't actually get a check. The "check" is posted on the Hub every Monday before being deposited on Thursday. I found that to be helpful for budgeting because I knew at the beginning of the week how much I would have and could plan ahead.

Also, try to avoid having a lot of other bills to pay while there. Car payments/ insurance/cell phone bills/student loan payments/ etc. all add up quickly and can make a huge dent in your budget.

I am one of the ones who didn't always budget my money wisely and ended up leaving with a balance on my credit cards. Looking back it was really easily avoidable and would have saved me a ton of trouble if I had just paid more attention to what I was spending money on. I got myself back on track but it really wasn't worth the trouble or letting down my parents to an extent. My advice? Save up as much as you can before leaving so that you have money to get started and some extra saved up for when you want to do something bigger or you paycheck doesn't go as far. If you don't use it then you have some extra money to shop with you holiday discount or take home.

 

[Iris]

. And anything over 40 hrs is time and a half... so you are making alot more than you would be making in any other general job.

does that help?

Time and a half is also anytime worked past 8 hours in any given shift. This is something I love about this company...almost all places never do this anymore although many years ago this was actually the norm. Even if you don't have a 40 hour week, if one of your shifts is an 11 hour shift you will get time and a half on any time worked past 8 hours (not including your unpaid lunch time). A few shifts like that a week adds up quickly.

A note on the taxes....remember that Florida does not have a state income tax so those taxes will not be taken out of your paycheck. Your home state may require you to pay partial taxes for wages worked in another state -Indiana is like this. We just helped our daughter complete her tax returns but I noticed that it did not impact her refund at all and she will be getting a very nice tax refund this year Just something to keep in mind.

 

[mickeyonasticky]

If you bank somewhere else just keep in mind that you may have trouble getting cash without paying fees.

I can get cash back at some stores (like Wal-Mart) when I pay with my check card that is associated with the checking account that I have my paycheck direct deposited into. No fees that way.

 

[grlwonder]

Can you use, say one of your parents bank account if you don't want to use the pay card? I don't have my own bank account, and I think it will be easier for me to use the pay card, but I'm just wondering if I can do that?

About the pay card, can you still cash out the money you have left (say after the program or even during)? Is it just for the program or can you use the card after the program?

 

[Frizzbird]

I didn't use the pay card but I believe you can just use it till the money is used up. So post CP, you can still use it until there is nothing left on it. I am not positive but I think when I switched to direct deposit the money on the card got transfered over to my bank account. BUT I'm not 100% sure about that...