working for Disney

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To those who have worked for WDW; Do you feel that you lose some of the "Magic" of Disney ?

I have often thought that it would be great to work for Disney. But then I thought it would spoil the MAGIC that makes Disney go special.

 

[PneumaticTransit]

You won't have a problem finding affordable housing - there are SO many new planned communities popping up EVERYWHERE and most are very reasonably priced. I bought my 3 bedroom/2 bath house 2 years ago for $132,000 (with all the upgrades and premium lot, base price was $120k) Believe it or not, I even got a hefty Cast Member discount. My house would now sell for about $160,000 - but there are literally hundreds of communities popping up in the Central Florida area. You really want to look into a planned community, the actual 'city streets' areas are very old and run down in most places - high crime rates in the Kissimmee area. I lived by 192/Orange Blossom Trail and had to pass prostitutes and drug dealers on my block every night when I got off work at 2:00 AM. This was just my experience, im sure there are some nicer places that are not in communities, such as around Lake Toho in Kissimmee - but that was only a few blocks from where I used to live. Personally, not an enviroment I would want to settle down in. I think there are more established towns the further you get from Disney. Lake Wales is very nice, but can be an hour and a half commute. I live 14 miles from work and it takes me 40-50 minutes to drive - I can't imagine living any further away from work - and I-4 is a mess. However, a lot of people I work with drive more than an hour each way to work.

To answer the question about the magic being ruined by working for Disney - for me - yes and no. I still love Disney, and I love knowing all of the ins and outs of what's going on. I still love going to the parks, but it can get a little old after while. It's better when I have family visiting and I can take them to the parks and see it thru their 'fresh' eyes. But it is a job - for every 1 really happy DISer type person, you will probably get 25 who want to yell, scream, complain and get free stuff. It was really discouraging when I worked as a front line CM in guest services. Most of the issues are things that you have no control over (it's raining/cold/wait time at Space Mountain was too long) so guest recovery is rather limited - and unless you offer to pay for their whole vacation personally while Mickey gives them a VIP tour - these people are not going to be happy. It is amazing how much money people pay for their vacation and let it be ruined because of some very minor thing. It ruins the magic when someone says they hate you, hate Mickey, and they're never coming here again because there's a forest fire 20 miles away and it's smokey outside.