Being a Disney Influencer

[LindseyDisney]

I was thinking about this the other day; being a Disney Influencer must be a tough job. They must have a real passion for Disney and the parks. I love Disney, but I need a break between my trips. I will wait 1 to 2 years before stepping back into the parks. And usually, by the end of my trip, I am excited to go back home and live as a hermit, far from society.

Being a Disney Influencer means seeing the same stuff on a weekly basis. You have to deal with heat and crowds all the time. And eating park food—I imagine after a while, you get sick of the food. Again, they must have a real passion for the parks. I view the parks as a vacation and wouldn't want to make it my career.

However, there are obvious benefits to being a Disney influencer. You are there opening day attractions and events. I do understand the allure.

 

[monothingie]

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

I was thinking about this the other day; being a Disney Influencer must be a tough job. They must have a real passion for Disney and the parks. I love Disney, but I need a break between my trips. I will wait 1 to 2 years before stepping back into the parks. And usually, by the end of my trip, I am excited to go back home and live as a hermit, far from society.

Being a Disney Influencer means seeing the same stuff on a weekly basis. You have to deal with heat and crowds all the time. And eating park food—I imagine after a while, you get sick of the food. Again, they must have a real passion for the parks. I view the parks as a vacation and wouldn't want to make it my career.

However, there are obvious benefits to being a Disney influencer. You are there opening day attractions and events. I do understand the allure.

How is this different from almost any other job?

Its a tough job because you see the same stuff on a weekly basis? I don't know about you but my drive to work and my office don't change very much weekly or monthly. The guys who work at a factory, or at the restaurants in the parks aren't seeing things change very much. I am sure there are some down sides to being any type of online influencer, steady cash flow, lack of benifits, being two big ones. But it being a "tough" job because you have to deal with people and not get to see new things everyday?

 

[jloucks]

Tough job? Not when you think about what really drives an 'influencer". It is my opinion these people are driven by an insatiable narcissism that manifests in thinking everyone cares at all what they think. Of course, the truth is a lot of people do in fact care what a few of them think lol. If you really go down the rabbit hole, there are a ton of them that have very few views. It ultimately is just a dance in a small spotlight. ...and probably a tax write-off which is actually kinda nice. I feel bad for most of them. When I was on Starcruiser before it shut down, it was annoying how many vloggers were shooting all the time, everywhere during the experience. At least they were in costume/character. I am on a dozen vlogs somewhere.

I cannot stand 95% of them as they reek of narcissism. The selfie generation all grown up. With the exception of post-surgery wound photos (one of which was my face), I think I have taken maybe.... zero solo selfies my entire life.

A vlog feels like watching someone's full motion selfie to me.

That said, my inner narcissist is probably a little bit jealous. If I were to do one it would be 95% footage, 5% my face

Hypocritically I suppose, I do spend a lot of time watching vlogs for somebody who doesn't like vloggers. For various reasons I like Ben & David (they are travel vloggers), David John (narrowboat vlogger) and some woman named Emma something-or-other (cruise ship vlogger). They don't seem all that into themselves and the footage is not all just of their face.

 

[monothingie]

Most of the Influencers' primary ambition is to be bought and paid for by Disney.

Free Merch, Free Food, Free Trips, Exclusive Access.

 

[danlb_2000]

 

[JIMINYCR]

Any job can be miserable or fun depending on how you enjoy what you are doing or look at it as just a means to get a pay check. If they are doing it then it’s not much of a tough job for them. They get the attention they are looking for, many craving notoriety from others , perks come in once they establish themselves and don’t forget about the money they can have flow in. Food and snacks are also something they can be a critic for and brings them status as bringing their reviews to light. They don’t necessarily eat the same things every trip.
When you get to a point of being known you get passes to be the first to try things and again it brings them gratification that they are more special than the rest of us.
It’s like being a CM in that you get to see many of the things the normal guest doesn’t. If you have a love for Disney then you are doing something that gives you pleasure and it certainly isn’t like a grueling 8-5 job.
Anything can get old and tiring. It must be difficult to try to be original and come up with things others aren’t showcasing. But for the majority of the time they just copy each other and aren’t too original.
I’ve watched my favorites because I like their approach to things and how they present their material. Others I don’t watch at all.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I think the hardest part would be the uncertainty and dependence on ethereal algorithms for your money. I have a small side hustle selling products online and I can see how much search results influence sales. For like two months one product will suddenly sell every single day, and then suddenly it will drop off the map completely, never to be heard from again. For a few items they maintain a steady growing number of sales over time, but for many it feels completely random.

Then imagine an influencer achieves the dream and can quite their day job - then the anxiety has to really kick in because that gig can likely end at any time as newer, trendier influencers pop up. I imagine it would be tricky to re-enter the workforce after several years of exclusive influencing. Maybe that would work on a resume but I feel like it might be a tough sell.

 

[Prince-1]

Yeah it’s a real “tough” job.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Like most people who like to keep up on Disney (and Universal), I have several favorite sources, although they tend to be journalistic-minded bloggers, podcasters, or website operators who do videos on the side, rather than the 100% video-based influencers. I tend to find the influencers who only do videos to be less in-depth and thoughtful, and in some cases, only marginally entertaining -- if not affirmatively annoying.

I feel like the market is so flooded with not-so-great, largely identical (think SNL's "Big Dumb Hat" and "Big Dumb Cup" sketches), self-proclaimed Disney "influencers," I can't imagine how most of them make any kind of money out of it -- and probably they don't.

 

[mergatroid]

I cannot stand 95% of them as they reek of narcissism. The selfie generation all grown up. With the exception of post-surgery wound photos (one of which was my face), I think I have taken maybe.... zero solo selfies my entire life.

Same here and I thought I was alone. The only selfie I've ever taken was following surgery when my head was bandaged up and full of stitches

 

[mergatroid]

I have very little problem with vloggers and generally wish them well if they can make money from it. There seems to be a lot of jealousy towards many of them for being good enough to make money visiting the parks. Unless they're disrupting other peoples enjoyment by making a scene, I tend to think good luck to them.

 

[Mr. Pusskers]

I see this a couple of ways:

1) The person like you which somewhat applies to me. After my two-week vacation in WDW, I want to go home. We used to have the Deluxe Dining plan before COVID and ate everywhere in the parks and Hotels on Downtown Disney (Sorry I still love that name). At the end of two weeks all I wanted was to eat at home and Have a Hamburger or BBQ chicken off my charcoal grille with Pickles and homemade potato salad and a cool drink and Baked Beans. I at the end of my trip would get sad that I had to leave the House of the Mouse. But when I got home the memories and stories were amazing. The Souvenir's made me happy and smile. I did not want to go back again right away. It would take the magic out of it for me.

2) Now I wished I worked for WDW in a technical area since I am an Electrical Engineer. My job like working at Bell Labs and then AT&T would be awesome. I would not mind the heat or people and being able to work at a place that I loved would be bliss. Yes, work is work, but you can make it fun and at times and is very rewarding. I always looked at my career which is still in progress that I wanted to always work for major companies where I felt my work made a difference. If I worked at WDW my effort and Energy would go into thinking of making the guest happy because the systems, I was working on and maintaining were the best that they could be and if downtime did occur to troubleshoot and have the systems back online ASAP. This is how it was for me at Bell Labs and Later AT&T before they were sold. My teams knew that when they got my work it was meticulous in details and solid in design.

3) the last part is to the people that can and do go WDW every chance they get. My hats off to you, I could not go there all the time and stay at the resorts and frequent the parks daily and eat in the parks all the time. A second vacation to me would be go somewhere else that I never have been and do activities that I never tried. You people are amazing and understand the passion and drive you have and see why any complaints or critiques can be made for better or worse. Sometimes I feel that you are the ones that should be working at WDW making the difference.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

The selfie generation all grown up. With the exception of post-surgery wound photos (one of which was my face), I think I have taken maybe.... zero solo selfies my entire life.

The "selfie generation"? I don't like most influencers either, but I just prefer pictures that I take of myself as opposed to ones that other people have taken of me, which is why I take selfies. Otherwise no pictures would exist of me.

The majority of my camera role is still my cats.

 

[Mireille]

I was thinking about this the other day; being a Disney Influencer must be a tough job. They must have a real passion for Disney and the parks. I love Disney, but I need a break between my trips. I will wait 1 to 2 years before stepping back into the parks. And usually, by the end of my trip, I am excited to go back home and live as a hermit, far from society.

Being a Disney Influencer means seeing the same stuff on a weekly basis. You have to deal with heat and crowds all the time. And eating park food—I imagine after a while, you get sick of the food. Again, they must have a real passion for the parks. I view the parks as a vacation and wouldn't want to make it my career.

However, there are obvious benefits to being a Disney influencer. You are there opening day attractions and events. I do understand the allure.

I would think it would risk making you hate the thing you love.

 

[Andrew25]

Definitely an "easy" job compared to other roles in this world.

There's definitely demand for those type of videos as people who can't visit the parks quite often/easily "live" through the vloggers. I'm sure some of them care about their commentary, but I think most are in it for the virtual "experience" of visiting the park.

I would think it would risk making you hate the thing you love.

I'm sure some of these vloggers/blogs are doing it nowadays for the money/popularity, I can't see how visiting often and then going home to edit can be fun after a few trips.

I live 5-mins away from WDW and make multiple trips a week to both WDW/UOR for two years now... haven't grown tired of it yet since I have no "goal" to profit from my visits.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

the last part is to the people that can and do go WDW every chance they get. My hats off to you, I could not go there all the time and stay at the resorts and frequent the parks daily and eat in the parks all the time. A second vacation to me would be go somewhere else that I never have been and do activities that I never tried

I go about twice a year, sometimes three times. I have anxiety, and while I love travelling, going someplace unfamiliar can trigger my anxiety. So then I feel like I need another vacation at the end of my vacation.

Because WDW is so familiar for me, it's probably the place I am the least anxious in the world. I don't have to do a thing for myself except maybe a load of laundry. I can get around without much thought. For others the planning can be stressful, but I know the place so well that it's not, plus I'll be back.

Even DL doesn't have the same effect on me as WDW has, even though I also love DL.

 

[King Racoon 77]

I go about twice a year, sometimes three times. I have anxiety, and while I love travelling, going someplace unfamiliar can trigger my anxiety. So then I feel like I need another vacation at the end of my vacation.

Because WDW is so familiar for me, it's probably the place I am the least anxious in the world. I don't have to do a thing for myself except maybe a loaf of laundry. I can get around without much thought. For others the planning can be stressful, but I know the place so well that it's not, plus I'll be back.

Even DL doesn't have the same effect on me as WDW has, even though I also love DL.

How do you launder a loaf ?
Enquiring minds want to know ?

 

[StarWarsGirl]

How do you launder a loaf ?
Enquiring minds want to know ?

At home, that's when the cat gets her bath.

 

[marni1971]

Just to point out there’s several versions of online non employee reporting; those who are invited to make authorised content of events. Those who show their face to the camera mostly whilst doing the same. And those who hug the lens and won’t say a bad word. The former promote something they like. The latter hope for something in return in doing what they do.

I know quite a few of the former type and they work extremely hard (believe it or not) for not a huge amount of direct monetary return. There are exceptions but it’s not the rule.

The technology in our pockets has made it possible for anyone to think they can do it.