Thinking about moving east....

[amcnj]

My cousin is doing the opposite move of you, from FL to WA! She started with lots of online research till she zeroed in on the area in WA she wanted. Then began an online search to get a feel for what was out there real estate wise. And lastly took a trip out there a few months ago to see the area for herself and find an exact house.

Will you also need to find a job in your new location? My cousin is retiring soon and then will make the move, so didn't have that concern. She is now paring down "stuff" deciding what to take, donate or throw away.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

All of the opinions posted here are spot on. Florida is the wrong state for Animation and a degree is a MUST for moving up to many positions in Disney but Animation is not one of those that you can do that for. The parks will lead to higher positions in the parks but not quickly and you will not pass up people with degrees.

I did 2 stints with the Disney College program and had a blast, but my parents did not join me, nor did my grandmother and we are in incredibly close family as well. I had to do this stuff on my own in order to thrive in life. Why not try out community college in WA and then interview for the CP and let her go off and do the semester on her own. She will have an idea of what she enjoys and what not and then she will come home to discuss the future. It's always fun to think huge and want to be drastic, but you need to research and think it through or it can lead to bigger problems in the end.

 

[ambellina]

A close friend of mine works in an animation department. There are many specific jobs within the department that require different skill sets such as Retake Animator, Layout Design, Background Artist, Cel Animator, etc. My friend attended and graduated from SCAD and has been working in the business for the past twelve years (she has worked in Atlanta and Burbank, never Orlando). We can both assure you there is no way that a non-graduate will just work their way into an animation role anywhere, and competition for work is tight even among the most experienced people. Don't make a move this huge until DD is able to graduate from college AND secure a job.

 

[nkereina]

I'm in agreement with PPs on the topic of the daughter and animation. But to answer the question at hand, there is a great Facebook group called "Moving to Florida" that offers a lot of resources, advice, and experiences of people from other states who have or are in the process of moving to Florida. DH and I dream about moving there some day when the time is right, and reading the posts in this group has given us a lot to think about. The grass isn't always greener.

 

[wvjules]

None of this plan makes sense.

 

[GreatLakes]

None of this plan makes sense.

I'm not even sure this idea rises to the level of a plan.

 

[Imzadi]

Me again my daughter has wanted to to be an animator since she could hold a crayon that is all she has ever wanted to do and has always been used as an example of for someone who “just knows” what she will do in life. She also wants to work for Disney and is aware of the low income.

There is a major disconnect in what your DD wants to do and where the jobs are.

I get that your DD is artistic. I am a professional artist. No one on this thread is trying to talk your DD out of becoming a Disney animator, but you both seem to have a misunderstanding on WHERE Disney is hiring animators and where they will actually be working. That's in Burbank, CA, at the animation facility, not at a Disney theme park. Any of the Disney theme parks. Theme park jobs are customer service, hospitality or entertainment, and technical back of the house, operational jobs. Unless she just wants a technical job to operate the equipment that turns on & off the animations and thinks that's enough to get her noticed in Burbank?

The animations are done long, long before they get to a theme park. The ideas for development have to get worked on, tested & approved, go through the legal & copyright requirements, make sure they follow Disney guidelines, etc., and fit what Disney wants at their theme parks, in Burbank, CA. Pixar Animation Studio, (a subsidiary of Disney,) is also located in L.A.

DD can make all her own animation she wants while working at WDW, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disney, even at DL in Anaheim. She can even show them off to fellow theme park co-workers & managers. But, none of that will get her recognized and working with the animation team at the Burbank studio. The theme park resume credit won't even count towards working in Animation. They are very separate fields and career requirements.

If Disney animation is really your goal, you both need to research what is really required, and where that needs to be to get her there. Just like, if she wanted to do Broadway, she can't do dinner theatre in Utah and think her work there will get noticed, or that those credits will really make her competitive on Broadway. If she wanted to work in Information Technology, she needs to be in Silicon Valley, CA.

Perhaps moving to California is a wiser move. It's still down south, better weather. An opportunity for DD to be working at DL, AND when she finds out the Disney animation jobs are in Burbank, it's only a 2.5 hour commute from Anaheim. If you and your family live somewhere in between those two locations, the change in locations will be much less complicated for DD and she can still live at home.

 

[cabanafrau]

There is a major disconnect in what your DD wants to do and where the jobs are.

I get that your DD is artistic. I am a professional artist. No one on this thread is trying to talk your DD out of becoming a Disney animator, but you both seem to have a misunderstanding on WHERE Disney is hiring animators and where they will actually be working. That's in Burbank, CA, at the animation facility, not at a Disney theme park. Any of the Disney theme parks. Theme park jobs are customer service, hospitality or entertainment, and technical back of the house, operational jobs. Unless she just wants a technical job to operate the equipment that turns on & off the animations and thinks that's enough to get her noticed in Burbank?

The animations are done long, long before they get to a theme park. The ideas for development have to get worked on, tested & approved, go through the legal & copyright requirements, make sure they follow Disney guidelines, etc., and fit what Disney wants at their theme parks, in Burbank, CA. Pixar Animation Studio, (a subsidiary of Disney,) is also located in L.A.

DD can make all her own animation she wants while working at WDW, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disney, even at DL in Anaheim. She can even show them off to fellow theme park co-workers & managers. But, none of that will get her recognized and working with the animation team at the Burbank studio. The theme park resume credit won't even count towards working in Animation. They are very separate fields and career requirements.

If Disney animation is really your goal, you both need to research what is really required, and where that needs to be to get her there. Just like, if she wanted to do Broadway, she can't do dinner theatre in Utah and think her work there will get noticed, or that those credits will really make her competitive on Broadway. If she wanted to work in Information Technology, she needs to be in Silicon Valley, CA.

Perhaps moving to California is a wiser move. It's still down south, better weather. An opportunity for DD to be working at DL, AND when she finds out the Disney animation jobs are in Burbank, it's only a 2.5 hour commute from Anaheim. If you and your family live somewhere in between those two locations, the change in locations will be much less complicated for DD and she can still live at home.

At the risk of raining on someone's parade, shouldn't the high cost of living in So. Cal. at least be factored in?

 

[michellelovesthemous]

Thank u to all for your thoughts and opinions this was just a thought that has been going through myself and my Mums head as if it were to happen we would all be going together mum’s
request not mine. My DD is fully aware she needs to get a degree in animation and they’re getting plucked out of WDW for an animators job wouldn’t happen.She realises her next step is to get basic college classes out of the way and then to pursue an art school. My thoughts which is to get general ideas as to potential things for a cross country move as we would probably all be leaving and going to whatever state she ends up and just because that’s the way our family works since it’s just us 3.I am going to show her this thread that I’ve started so she can get an idea herself maybe a reality check?! Maybe we all have a little pixie dust in our eyes. But my prime directive in this post was just to start the general information gathering for things we’ve never done before since we never moved before let alone2800+miles away. So again I thank everyone who previously posted and may continue to post for your advice and thoughts!

 

[Imzadi]

At the risk of raining on someone's parade, shouldn't the high cost of living in So. Cal. at least be factored in?

What is the point of moving to a place with a lower cost of living if the job/career one wants isn't there?

 

[Southernmiss]

Thank u to all for your thoughts and opinions this was just a thought that has been going through myself and my Mums head as if it were to happen we would all be going together mum’s
request not mine. My DD is fully aware she needs to get a degree in animation and they’re getting plucked out of WDW for an animators job wouldn’t happen.She realises her next step is to get basic college classes out of the way and then to pursue an art school. My thoughts which is to get general ideas as to potential things for a cross country move as we would probably all be leaving and going to whatever state she ends up and just because that’s the way our family works since it’s just us 3.I am going to show her this thread that I’ve started so she can get an idea herself maybe a reality check?! Maybe we all have a little pixie dust in our eyes. But my prime directive in this post was just to start the general information gathering for things we’ve never done before since we never moved before let alone2800+miles away. So again I thank everyone who previously posted and may continue to post for your advice and thoughts!

She still needs to be in touch with a 4 year university first to be sure courses offered at community college will transfer and be appropriate for the degree wanted.

Don't know if you have looked a college lately, but the process and costs are an eye opener for those who haven't looked into college in a while.

Some specialized degrees don't need all the 'basic' courses that can be taken at community college. My boy's program did not need all of the traditional basic courses offered for a basic Associate's degree. It would be a shame to waste time and money for classes that were not needed.

 

[Imzadi]

I am going to show her this thread that I’ve started so she can get an idea herself maybe a reality check?!

I wouldn't call it a reality check. More of a course correction. She knows what she wants to do & be. Her current destination was incorrect to get her where she wants to go. She didn't have enough info before. She just has to recalibrate now what it takes to really get her where she wants to go. Airline pilots have to re-calibrate all the time during flights and make course corrections due to storms, detours, looking at the wrong maps. Oops! They simply re-calibrate and continue to move forward.

It will be a huge amount of expenses to move once. Finding out after you get there that the three of you are in the wrong place would have been dreadful. Now, hopefully, all of you can move once and be in the right, optimal place for DD. Don't give up dreaming. Just follow it up with proper planning - which is why you originally started this thread. Now recalculate with the new info you have been given.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

my 72 year old mum wants to pack up the home she has lived in for or 49 years in WA and move to the Orlando area as my dd20 wants to be an animator and work for Disney starting in the parks and work her way up. My DD wants us all to move as everyone is disenchanted with WA. This means I leave my job after 19years at 48 help her sell, donate, shred etc then pack up my childhood home and sell it. Looking for advice as she has been looking at real estate in the Orlando area, we do WDW for 2-3 weeks every year in August and we enjoy the heat and humidity........sick ain’t it?! I guess I am looking for any advice as to where to begin this process especially with the how would we find property from 2800 miles away?! Any suggestions and or advice on this process will be much appreciated this is approximately 18-24 months out. We come back to WDW for our annual holiday in a few weeks too.

Well I can tell you that 2,516 mile commute into Burbank from Orlando will be a doozie for that animation job. She'll need to get herself in a good school that has an internship out there. Note that good schools for animation are not necessarily the best schools for other things.

 

[Nancyg56]

.

She still needs to be in touch with a 4 year university first to be sure courses offered at community college will transfer and be appropriate for the degree wanted.

Don't know if you have looked a college lately, but the process and costs are an eye opener for those who haven't looked into college in a while.

Some specialized degrees don't need all the 'basic' courses that can be taken at community college. My boy's program did not need all of the traditional basic courses offered for a basic Associate's degree. It would be a shame to waste time and money for classes that were not needed.

I could not agree more. In my state some of the courses in a community college will not transfer to the 4 year schools. My degree is in accounting, and I was an A student, but if I wanted to transfer to one of the universities instate my more advances accounting courses would not have transferred. I believe the same holds true in some other areas of education. WHen that much money is at stake, the first step is research.

 

[Sabeking]

Since we have shifted the conversation to school; here is some information I am aware of. My daughter was homeschooled her high school years. She spent her junior and senior year at community college. She earned 36 credit hours in those two years. She applied to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) as another poster mentioned up thread. Of those 36 hours; 30 transferred. World civics and one other class did not. We toured the campus and my dd loved it! They are in Savannah Georgia or they have another campus in Atlanta. It is a small private college and not cheap. However, they give away lots of academic scholarship money, bringing a portfolio also goes a long way when applying and for scholarship purposes. They have a great relationship with Disney as well as many other companies. My dd was accepted and her focus is fashion/ visual merchandising. However, she chose another school in North Carolina that also has some strong relationships with large companies. SCAD was her first choice until she went to visit High Point and that was it; she was home!Do some research for sure. There definitely are schools that have relationships with Disney for internships, etc...

 

[pfalcioni]

If your daughter isn't ready for a 4-year degree, is she currently proficient in the core computer programs used for modern animation? If not, talk to a career counselor about starting with community college courses in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Aperture and After Effects. For 3D animation, she will need to know Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max, and FlipBook. If she currently is an analog artist, she'll need to convert those skills to computer programs, although there are a few companies like Laika Entertainment (makers of Coraline) who create films using real-world stop-action animation and have a need for physical artists, nearly all modern physical artists are also proficient in digital image creation and manipulation.

Being an artist in your spare time is wonderful, you have the joy of creating exactly what you want and the luxury of all the time in the world to make it just right. Being a professional artist is exceedingly demanding and requires not only an extremely driven personality (able to focus on projects even when your personal world is crashing around you), you have to have a very thick skin because you and your work are constantly being critiqued. Imagine spending months on a design, only to have the client say they hate it and want you to start over. It happens all the time and it can be soul-crushing if you let it. It is an extremely competitive field, so she will need to have the ability to look at her work with a highly critical eye and not only accept criticism from others, but be able to grow and learn from it. It's really smart for kids who are interested in pursuing a career in an art field to enter as many shows and competitions as they can because it will give them the kind of pressure, weird requirements and brutally honest and sometimes downright evil reviews that she'll find when she enters the field as a professional.

I couldn't cut it, so I chose another field and continued to do art projects on the side. I do some websites and graphic art projects for money on the side, but I am able to pick and choose my clients. This allows me to still be creative and see my designs used "in the wild" without having a job that is so stressful and chaotic that I can't enjoy a normal private life. For me it is a good balance, and it might be something for your daughter to consider.

 

[pfalcioni]

Since we have shifted the conversation to school; here is some information I am aware of. My daughter was homeschooled her high school years. She spent her junior and senior year at community college. She earned 36 credit hours in those two years. She applied to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) as another poster mentioned up thread. Of those 36 hours; 30 transferred. World civics and one other class did not. We toured the campus and my dd loved it! They are in Savannah Georgia or they have another campus in Atlanta. It is a small private college and not cheap. However, they give away lots of academic scholarship money, bringing a portfolio also goes a long way when applying and for scholarship purposes. They have a great relationship with Disney as well as many other companies. My dd was accepted and her focus is fashion/ visual merchandising. However, she chose another school in North Carolina that also has some strong relationships with large companies. SCAD was her first choice until she went to visit High Point and that was it; she was home!Do some research for sure. There definitely are schools that have relationships with Disney for internships, etc...

We did a tour of SCAD when we were in Savannah in February, it's an amazing college and I love how they are restoring and preserving so many of Savannah's old buildings.

 

[Sabeking]

We did a tour of SCAD when we were in Savannah in February, it's an amazing college and I love how they are restoring and preserving so many of Savannah's old buildings.

It is awesome!, I was a little disappointed when she chose not to go there but the flip side is she is WAY closer to home. So I’m not going to complain too much!!

 

[MillauFr]

At the risk of raining on someone's parade, shouldn't the high cost of living in So. Cal. at least be factored in?

Depends where she is moving from. The cost of living in Seattle is about the same as Burbank.

 

[diznygirl]

A quick google for animation jobs in Seattle bright up a bunch. Your daughter could start right at home before thinking about moving. She should also give the job openings a good look for what the job requirements are. That could give her a good focus for her studies.

https://www.indeed.com/m/jobs?q=Animation+Studios&l=Seattle,+WA