Like
elisatonks said, it's near impossible to get a FT hourly position currently. After 30 days, you're eligible for FT, though that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get it.
My wife, our adult son & I moved to Orlando November 2nd of last year. My son was able to continue working remotely at his existing job & has since landed a nice job locally. Prior to that, he interviewed with Disney for a professional position, but was over qualified for that position.
My 29 year old daughter got a PT position as a hostess at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian, but her husband ended up taking a job back in SC, where we moved from, so she had to leave.
My wife got a P/T position in F&B in the food cart area, in Hollywood Studios. Her goal is to move into serving at Hollywood & Vine, or the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater restaurant in the same park. Serving positions are highly sought after, as the income is much higher than other positions, due to tips. Most hourly positions with Disney pay around $8 an hour, with certain exceptions like bus drivers & security, which pays around $10. Disney almost never hires servers from outside, generally you have to be in a position with Disney for 6 months before you can apply to other positions.
She completed her training, but hasn't been on the schedule since, because it's slow. I'm talking over 2 weeks without a scheduled shift! The only good thing is that the clock is ticking towards the 30-day requirement for F/T application.
Our other daughter's husband applied for & was hired for P/T security, but ended up with a F/T security position at a Disney affiliate resort on Disney property. He was a deputy in SC before they moved to Orlando.
I have an interview with Disney this coming Monday & will be posting a thread about that shortly
I can tell you that moving down here without a job is a difficult proposition. The hiring climate here is different than I'm used to; no one moves quickly in this town, including, or perhaps especially Disney. As others have said, I recommend that you not move here without substantial cash reserves. I don't think the cost of living is terrible here, compared to where we moved from (Hilton head/Bluffton, SC), but it sure isn't cheap.
Apartments aren't cheap here, especially near the parks. They all require fairly substantial security deposits, based on credit score. The better your credit, the lower the security deposit.
Be VERY careful renting a home, especially on craigslist. There are a LOT of homes in foreclosure being rented where the agent or person renting the home doesn't tell the prospective tenant about the foreclosure. This happened to my daughter & her husband & they had to move on very short notice because the home sold on a short sale.
On the other hand, you could end up with some cash for keys money, depending on how it goes, but you can't bank on this.
After having to move quickly, our daughter & her family found a nice home to rent in Davenport, which is about 40 minutes south of WDW. Davenport is a nice area & has good schools. Rent is affordable there as well, or at least "more affordable"
My wife, our son & I found a really nice apartment in LBV (Lake Buena Vista), about 15 minutes form Disney's Hollywood Studios. I can highly recommend
Cumberland Park Apartments, feel free to PM me for more information, if you're interested.
~Dave
