AllydoesDisney
Well-Known Member
In my dreams. I'm trying so hard to get into the College Program.
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Has anyone ever worked at WDW?
- Thread starter ToyStorygirl
- Start date
TubaGeek
God bless the "Ignore" button.
In my experience...
They don't treat the cast right, or the guests. The College Program exists to keep a revolving door of cheap, unskilled labor, weakening the Union, and making guests put up with people who don't know what's going on. Local management will put efficiency above courtesy, show, and safety when there's a higher manager breathing down their necks, but will ignore obviously problems with simple solutions if it's easier for them.
Disney once made all their cast food themselves and charged only what it cost them, but now Sodexo pays Disney to have an overpriced monopoly on all backstage food sold. It's not good food, but it's expensive, ESPECIALLY for a frontline CM.
They're also slowly taking away the "perks". If you work the Halloween or Christmas event, they used to have a dress rehearsal "preview night" or give you a comp ticket or two. Not anymore. Now you get a small discount, but it's still a hefty amount for someone making minimum wage. One would think that they'd allow at least the cast who WORKS the event to ATTEND the event. If someone were to come up and ask me what the events were like, I'd have to be honest and tell them I had never attended, so I don't know.
Ultimately, though, the biggest issue for me is that I have to be PROUD of my company. That gets harder and harder as you work there and see simple issues go ignored and deteriorate into bigger problems. I mean, most of US on the forum can see it; imagine if you were surrounded by it 40 hours a week...
yensid67
Well-Known Member
I worked in Magic Kingdom and Epcot! I had always wanted to work for an amusement park. So In April 1998, I began the process of becoming a Walt Disney World Cast Member! To make this short all I will say with certainty is that...
Will have to say that my posts reflect the Disney of Yesteryear. TUBAGEEK is right with the quality and such of the show and parks. I went to WDW May 2013 and I was disappointed with the quality of the show and the parks...not as I remembered them! BUT I will always have a special place in my heart for DISNEY!
It was the best job and time of my life!
Nothing else compares to that job, if you could call it that! It's not a job if you love what you are doing! In a job in such a place as the Disney Parks, you HAVE to be focused on the guest! All guests needs come first! It a job that you cannot be in a bad mood and show it.(at least not at a Disney Park). You have to constantly smile and make the guests feel welcome! Sometimes that not easy when you're feeling otherwise. You have to have a mindset that you want to make the guests visit Magical! That's what we get paid to do! When I thought about how long some guests have saved for a week to a Disney Park, it makes me WANT to make their visit special and magical! I still feel that way in my life with everything I do! Thanks to my Disney training!Will have to say that my posts reflect the Disney of Yesteryear. TUBAGEEK is right with the quality and such of the show and parks. I went to WDW May 2013 and I was disappointed with the quality of the show and the parks...not as I remembered them! BUT I will always have a special place in my heart for DISNEY!
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BigTxEars
Well-Known Member
Not sure but it seems to me you want lower priced, higher quality food, more hours and more perks. Reasonable request and desires. But hardly slave like or even mistreatment if you don't get them IMO. You seem to hate the college program, others love it (folks in it, not Disney management) so nothing to do there but accept it.
I have nothing positive to say about what union can do for you, they are a business like any other, there to increase membership and collect more dues IMO.
Why not go into management? It seems the best way to help change the things that you do not like would to be on the team that can change them.
willtravel
Well-Known Member
I am impressed that they have been with the company for 30 years each and have been able to keep there job that long. Something you don't see happen now.My employer does a lot of work for disney, we do bus repair, painting, graphics, collision repair.Now we are refurbish the chassis on 7 strings of the back lot tour trams, repainting and repairing parking lot tram tractors, and also do maintain security equipment. My 2 uncles have worked there forever alsne for reddy Creek and the other is a supervisor of maintenance for a part of mk, their stories are the good ones, they both have been there for around 30 yes each
Uncle Orville
Well-Known Member
I haves always wondered, does the music ever bother you. I mean you hear the same loop over and over day after day. Do you find yourself singing with the music or whistling it on break? I love disney music and I dont listen to it a lot, but it is definitely stuck in my head, especially the background music.
TubaGeek
God bless the "Ignore" button.
Unions have their pros and their cons. I never was a MEMBER of the Union at Disney, but I was still protected by it. But Disney is behind me now. I would never say that I've completely ruled out returning, but there will have to be some MAJOR changes and/or incentives for that to happen.
In my experience, it totally depends on the quality of the music. Tomorrowland's music loop is fine, and I was there a majority of the time, but other places had less-awesome loops, and those can wear on you after awhile.
rodserling27
Well-Known Member
Hey, you're from Delaware?? Me too! Greetings from Wilmington!!!
disneyfanatic05
Member
I was on the College Program from January 2009-August 2009 worked at Disney's All Star Movies Resort QSFSB
AllydoesDisney
Well-Known Member
Did you like it?
Disney Shib
Well-Known Member
FACT!
Disney Shib
Well-Known Member
I also did the Disney College Program back in January - August 2007. I worked on attractions at Magic Kingdom. Saw some crazy stuff and met a bunch of celebrities. It was pretty awesome.
Patrick_Ears
Well-Known Member
Yes i have before. I worked in MK for about a year and yes i know someone in the parks. Also in Disneyland i know someone.
Stopped working there almost 19 years ago and I still find myself occasionally humming EPCOT's Future World background music.
I worked at the reservation center in Tampa. I enjoyed it, but the low pay required me to have a second job and ultimately quit. I have tons of stories from great to downright ugly. As any service related job, you really get to see how wonderful people can be to how horribly aweful people can be. But, I do regret leaving.
If you have the money and can do the hours, I think it is a great company to work for. If it is your full time single source of income, don't plan on living well unless you get into a salery position.
If you have the money and can do the hours, I think it is a great company to work for. If it is your full time single source of income, don't plan on living well unless you get into a salery position.
Communicore
Well-Known Member
I worked at Cosmic's at the then New Tomorrowland so the 1995 loop was always in my head. It didn't bother me at all. And during Spectro and the fireworks they piped in those audios too, so I would never ever forget those. My coworkers were bothered by it of course being that we were all like high schoolers and they didn't like new age however I like that genre. What bothered me though is the constant bass and rumbling vibrations coming from Alien Encounter as it is literally next to the Cosmic's/Star Traders tunnel break room!
Communicore
Well-Known Member
The college program apartments was party central in Orlando that's for sure! Heh heh! Even though I wasn't college aged yet I was partying it up with these professional college students. In one incident that surprisingly, I still recall, some dude ran away from the house and yelled "Someone could die in there! Leave!" ha ha ha....i worked at Animal Kingdom
Care to elaborate?
Preston Chatsworth
Member
Undoubtedly, the majority of the posts on this topic support my argument outlined in the "Workers Want Pay Boost" thread that jobs at Disney were meant for those who are in high school, college and/or retired who have other means of financial support. Perhaps the reason the majority of the CMs are so disgruntled and uncaring these days is due to their failure in life and having to settle for such a menial job that they no longer care. Disney should not hire those who are over-qualified and they should stick to hiring kids and the elderly who work here because they love it and not because they have to.