WHAT I LEARNED WORKING 6 YEARS AT THE (NOT SO) WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY

[MainStreetMouse]

An interesting article from someone who worked at Disney World for 6 years.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/working-at-walt-disney-world-magic-kingdom-epcot

 

[mshanson3121]

Interesting article. I've heard they're tough to work for, but this was even worse than I thought.

 

[Dznefreek]

This is just one perspective out f 10's of thousands of employees.
I worked at the phone company p/t for 5 years and it was a great experience.
We were never pressured into anything.

 

[Liljo22]

Interesting article. I've heard they're tough to work for, but this was even worse than I thought.

I didn't think it sounded that bad. Sounds like a big party. A lot of hours for some but she made a point of saying most of the ones that did loved working that many hours. The wedding time off was a bit much though.

 

[warrenz1963]

Pretty dubious article, and poorly written at that. A bit one sided as most of the information pertains to the experience of an entertainment CM, and they have a very different experience than most other departments. I agree with some of the assumptions, though. I went to work there following my own personal Disney dream, only to discover that working for supervisors thirty years younger than I am, with no management training and zero interest in ever being trained, is a big fat bummer. Guests were, for the most part, awesome. Supervisors and managers were not trained and clueless. Absolutely awful. Don't even get me started on trying to survive on the wages they pay...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think it's an insightful article but as with any person's job experiences/attitudes, etc vary from person to person.

I have no doubt they are worked very hard, some party very hard (I knew someone in college who did do the College Program in 2010 and said he partied all the time and he said it was actually moreso than he did when he was in college), those head to toe costumes must get very uncomfortable and hot but it's doubful that mascots for sporting teams feel any different and they are probably paid less than Disney's (I'm speculating here not saying with any sort of actual knowledge).

There are def. some people who are very entitled but it's not exactly fair to blanket all Americans with "hey you yeah you American you're the only ones who can possibly be entitled in this world, all other cultures..nope they are perfectly fine", as to parents...that's a hard thing since it's a social switch here in America (where old school is firm parenting and for some reason it's becoming too common in my opinion for there to be soft/passive parenting) but again it's a blanket statement.

Also seems to me there's been an awful lot of complaints for certain foreign tourists and their behaviors in the park (line-cutting, talking extremely loud, blocking pathways) but that's more from a guest's standpoint and not a CM's standpoint (my point on that is that the article is from the standpoint only of a CM not from what a guest my experience with regards to other guest's behavior).

Something that stuck out in my mind in a weird way is the wedding part of the article. Now I'm not saying it didn't happen just seems a little off.

 

[katt789]

**sorry this is so long...

I feel like this is just a negative geared article, sure, she's not complaining the whole time, but it highlights a lot of the not so great points, and puts makes it sound like the AMAZING experiences one gets from working for Disney as something that only "nerds like" kinda feel...(i can't think of the proper wording...)

I've never heard of anyone call the Traditions course what she did, and personally, Traditions was one of the best days of training that we got! It's all about the history of the company, and learning all about the 4 keys, and how those keys are brought into play in each location every day, and how to go about that. Traditions is the day you get your first set of Mickey ears, the day you get your name tag, the day you get to go into the tunnels and actually go into MK. (which for some people is their first time) To say that it's anything less than magical would be an understatement.

As for the money part, I can vouch that that is true, even as of last year. We all remember all those articles, and I was beyond lucky to be part of a program where I was on a work visa and HAD to be scheduled a minimum hours of work a week, and worked only 5 days a week. Now, they would still come and offer for us to go home early on slow days, and it was up to you to take them or not, so we usually got by alright. Truth, I've never ACTUALLY lived pay-cheque to pay-cheque like I did there, but it made up for it with all the amazing things I got to experience. And I definitely could've been better at not spending it! For getting time off, there are SO many ways to put through a day off, you can put it in as many different types of days off, and when I had family come down, I managed to get pretty much the entire week off, and if I needed someone to switch a shift of pick something up, it was always super easy to do. The book off request thing is done through a computer system and scheduling
people, but if it came down to it and you really needed a switch pushed through, the management could do it too. So that part I don't understand much.

Partying happens...you can't expect it not to. But the cp's housing is super secure and strict, if you don't live there, you have to sign in with security, and be out by 1am, and even if you live in housing but are in a different complex you're supposed to be out of there by 2 I believe. It's still super secure, and security drives around to make sure everything's safe and not too crazy all through the night.

....don't know how old this article is but you can definitely take pictures WITH characters in Tokyo...

...I don't want to touch on the "face" people being rude, because they are some of the sweetest and nicest people I've ever met. Sure, you get your stuck up people but that happens anywhere, it's not JUST because of their role at Disney, it's just because that's the type of people they are.

And you're going to get obnoxious and rude tourists from ALL over the world, (we saw a ton of snooty canadians....)and you're going to get the SWEETEST nicest most respectful guests from all over the world...again...it's the type of people they are, not where they come from...

Maybe my experience was completely different because of my role, or because of the time in my life, or actual years of when I worked there, or maybe it was because I was one of those "self-named-Disney-addicts" but I absolutely loved working for the Mouse, and I miss it SO much every day. I miss talking to random people from all over the world, getting to know them while they finished their beers, give them "un-official" advice on how to drink around the world without dying (because drinking around the world can be super dangerous...) we'd give out stickers to kids, do trivia with everyone, seeing how excited they'd get, it's all about taking whatever role you have and being able to MAKE magic into it. I used to love to send people over to Germany with a crayon for Snow White, (I'd pay them in stickers) and at the end of the day find out if she got it or not. We took full advantage of our time there, barely saw Orlando, we were in Disney parks EVERY day off minus the like, 3 days we were at Universal and the 1 day I was sick lol! But it's what I love, and it's magical and it's home. So...I guess everyone has their own experience!

 

[GPC0321]

Meh. She sounds young. I don't think she expected that working at WDW would entail so much...you know...WORK.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Meh. She sounds young. I don't think she expected that working at WDW would entail so much...you know...WORK.

Sorry but that statement is way too sterotypical. Lets not turn this thread into a "she's young and can't possibly have work ethic, obviously a millennial (just the next leap in how the conversation would go when you start to focus on the age of the person), etc and that's why she's complaining" type of thread.

 

[GPC0321]

Sorry but that statement is way too sterotypical. Lets not turn this thread into a "she's young and can't possibly have work ethic, obviously a millennial (just the next leap in how the conversation would go when you start to focus on the age of the person), etc and that's why she's complaining" type of thread.

Okay, I didn't say all of that, but regardless of her age, I think she sounds whiny and melodramatic. Am I allowed to have that opinion?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Okay, I didn't say all of that, but regardless of her age, I think she sounds whiny and melodramatic. Am I allowed to have that opinion?

I know you didn't say that...nor did I say you did say that.

You are absolutely allowed to have your opinion (and I didn't say you weren't-this entire website is devoted to people's opinion) and frankly I agree she does sound a bit melodramatic with some things but the person's age was nowhere in the article.

There is a difference in saying "sounds like she's young and maybe doesn't have much experience in other lines of work to compare WDW to" versus saying "she's sounds young and didn't know work meant work". That second statement goes into the sterotypical thoughtprocess that being young nowadays means you have no work ethic. I apologize if that wasn't your intent just came off that way at least to me.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

I hope Disney is this tough.

 

[loves to dive]

I've often heard that it's not necessarily a bed of roses working there and that pay is low but I do question some of the things stated. For one, if someone hated it so much, why work there for 4 years? Seems to me if it was that bad, one would move on. Another thing that bothered me was the inability to take vacation. I may have misread but it sounded like she was a full time employee, Disney is big enough they have to follow very strict labor laws, if someone has earned vacation they can not be denied it. Now, if they aren't in a position that required paid vacation under the companies policies, they would still most likely be allowed unpaid time off. I've never heard of the publication so I can't speak to whether or not they are legitimate but the whole article sounded almost like a headline seeking set up to me.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

The life of a character performer is not the life of an average cast member. The only thing in here that rings true for me is the overtime stuff. I live for overtime. Unfortunately, my role doesn't get an awful lot of it. I have to stalk The Hub for overtime-approved 6th day shifts and work at different parks for most of them. (At least I get to wear the same costume everywhere except for DAK.)

Disney is big enough they have to follow very strict labor laws, if someone has earned vacation they can not be denied it. Now, if they aren't in a position that required paid vacation under the companies policies, they would still most likely be allowed unpaid time off.

You have to be allowed to use your vacation time, but you don't have to be allowed to use it whenever you want to if the needs of the business don't allow it. I don't know how Entertainment CMs request vacation, but in my role, we request days off via The Hub. If too many people have already requested a day I want, I get put on a waitlist. If the people ahead of me drop their request, I get bumped up the list. The earlier I submit a request, the better my chances of getting that day, but there simply aren't many spots off available for busy times like Spring Break, the Christmas/New Year's holiday period, and - at least at Epcot - weekends during Food & Wine.

 

[goofyernmost]

So they're saying that they had a job to do and Disney insisted that they do it. Poor baby! Yet, they stayed in that hell on earth, for six years? Not sure I understand that. Apparently, Disney didn't tell them and they didn't ask how much they would be paid per hour? Is that correct? Bad, bad Disney... holding them hostage all that time.

Anyway, what a crock. I'm sure that Disney is a demanding job. It requires a smile even when one doesn't feel like smiling. It requires courtesy to people that don't deserve it. And the job of making the magic, is quite the burden, I guess. I'm sure that there is a McDonalds someplace that is hiring. Just repeat after me... Do you want fries with that? There now you are highly qualified for a position in food service.

 

[zaccaglin]

She was only one person of the 77,000+ CMs. Me personally love my job with Disney and I wouldn't change it for anything. Been around for years, and have the exact job I wanted from the first time I stepped into casting. Sure it's not always magical and crap does happen on a daily basis but I still have fun every day!!

 

[laurainsem]

Unfortunately any job a person has comes with good and bad, it's just the way life works. I actually didn't think she was necessarily being whiny, but i'm not sure I believed it all. There had to be more to the story about the wedding, nothing is that black and white. Whether she didn't give enough notice or it's flat out untrue, I doubt Disney would just tell someone to "get married and quit or deal with it" after someone gave adequate notice.