Subsonic Radio

I was wondering what I must be like working for Disney. When I was last in Florida I caught a cab with a student who was working on her MA. She was very negative about the way in which staff are treated etc. However, it would be great to get other people's opinions.

Hiya,

I worked for Disney last year for a couple of months on one of their international programmes. I quite enjoyed it. Some of the managers are a little more awkward than others and tend to whinge a bit more, but overall I didn't have any complaints about it.

Some of the organisation left a bit to be desired, but that was mainly things that changed and they didn't manage to get in contact with everyone before the date/time that had changed.. Mainly because they called my mobile whilst I was at work, thus I couldn't answer it...

Andy.

I used to work for the Disneyland Hotel in California back in 1996. I really enjoyed it, they treated the castmembers really well. There were also all kinds of perks that was enjoyable to. Then I used to work for the Disney Stores in California, till they were bought out by Children's Place, now, from what I understand it isn't like it used to be. My cousin works in the Entertainment Dept at Disneyland and he says that things have changed there also. But, he still enjoys it, he must he is going on 6 years.

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"Remember Dreams Really Do Come True."

I'm a former Disney Store employee, from back in the days long before Children's Place bought them out. At the store, I won't lie - we worked hard. There were a lot of specifics to the job as far as how we looked in our "costume" and expectations as far as keeping busy went. Even if the store was dead, you found a way to keep busy and keep working.

But hey, it was my first job and getting to say that I worked for Disney was WAY cool.

Back then, the perks were great too as far as theme park tickets, discounts and the opportunity to take CM-only trips. Our second trip to Disneyland was on a CM-trip. We had tours behind the scenes at Disneyland, the Studios and WDI in addition to a lot of other activities. It was great!

mommyfor2 wrote:I used to work for the Disneyland Hotel in California back in 1996. I really enjoyed it, they treated the castmembers really well. There were also all kinds of perks that was enjoyable to. Then I used to work for the Disney Stores in California, till they were bought out by Children's Place, now, from what I understand it isn't like it used to be. My cousin works in the Entertainment Dept at Disneyland and he says that things have changed there also. But, he still enjoys it, he must he is going on 6 years.

Hey! We staid there in Dec of 2006. Maybe you helped us!

Hey, maybe I did help you. My world of Disney is such a small place, oops I mean big place.

Um, well I can't speak for the full time cast members, but as a Disney college program intern- Disney treated us fairly well, I think. Unfortunately my area of work was going through some changes, so things were slightly disorganized. The full-time cast members were...interesting co-workers.

Disney tries to keep their employees happy by having special events, rewards for safety, rewards for extra awesome work-behavior, and discounts.

I have a very close friend who has been a CM for over 17 years and as far as I can tell, Disney doesn't treat their people very well. It's the normal union against corporate scene. It seems like they're always looking for a reason to can them.

we kinda have a thread on current and former CMs who are on the site, and many of them have also given their impressions on working for the mouse. you can find the thread in the Genral forum, or by clicking the link below:

viewtopic.php?t=17

One of my friends I grew up with has been a CM for nearly 20 years - she's a buyer for Epcot and seems to enjoy it. I also run across a lot of folks who've done the College Program who have mostly a favorable opinion.

One thing that seems certain is that Disney is below market in terms of full time, salaried positions outside of executive level.

Wow! a lot of interesting stuff. The girl that I was originally talking about (see forum subject) was going on about Disney not allowing anyone to take leave even on compassionate grounds and that they worked people over long (sometime illegal) hours etc. etc. I'm really glad that from what's been said it's the usual story - a matter of opinion rather than fact.

Guy wrote:Wow! a lot of interesting stuff. The girl that I was originally talking about (see forum subject) was going on about Disney not allowing anyone to take leave even on compassionate grounds and that they worked people over long (sometime illegal) hours etc. etc. I'm really glad that from what's been said it's the usual story - a matter of opinion rather than fact.

From what I understand, what you were told was spot on. It was fact and not opinion!! Don't you wonder why most people start with..."When I worked at Disney."

I would say almost every CM I have spoken with has had negative things to say about "management" and how things used to be so much better before all of the cost cutting and the change of philosophy. That's a shame because CM's create a big part of the Disney magic and that has and will continue to suffer if the CM's are not happy. In reality, I suppose there are a lot more "characters" at Disney than just the people wearing costumes. There are a lot of regular CM's wearing a "mask" of happiness to cover their true feelings.

^ And of course, all of that is true at any job, really.

casrin wrote:^ And of course, all of that is true at any job, really.

Yep. However, most jobs don't involve catering to people on vacation. People expect (even if unrealistically) to be greeted with smiling faces and fun. I think most CM's accomplish this regardless of what may be going on in the "real world".