![]() And if you worked a shift of more than 20 hours, you got double time. So we worked 10- to 18-hour shifts in order to make overtime. When you make $8 an hour, 40 hours on the clock isn't gonna pay your bills. Last are those who get wrapped up in the wishes, hopes, dreams, and "making people happy" mindset, and eventually they find themselves having invested so much time at Disney, that at some point, they no longer have the desire to leave. Why do they get "so into it"? My guess is Pixie Dust. Then there are those who come to Disney as a College Program intern, or as a seasonal employee, and then come to the realization that they'd rather get free park admission for the rest of their lives than continue pursuing their education. ![]() There are the ones who were born and raised with the sole life goal of working for the Mouse. Like somehow getting to work 80 hours a week in a 120-degree costume for $6.90 an hour is the greatest thing you could possibly be doing for humanity.īut some people get sucked into it for life. But you pretty much sign your life away, agreeing to work whenever and however long Disney wants - and you're happy about it. Like a Disney Princess, you're encouraged to dream your way to improving your situation. Typically if you've signed up to work there, you already have an emotional attachment to Disney, and the indoctrination course pulls hard at those heartstrings. ![]() When you get hired, you have to go through what we called a "Disney indoctrination course," where you're shown endless films about the history of Disney, the parks, and the feeling the word "Disney" evokes in people. It's like a daylong suspension of disbelief.Īnd what were all the costumed characters that I played, you ask? Well, at Disney, it is prohibited for cast members to say they "played" certain characters, because the characters are "real." Cast members can, however, tell someone they "hung out with" characters. So, to answer your question, some of the more popular characters I "hung out with" included: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Lilo, and Stitch. There were always seven or eight of us walking around the park at one time in Mickey Mouse costumes, but when people would ask, "How many Mickeys are there here?", the answer was always, "One." And for whatever time those guests are in the park, they really believe it. When you go to work at Disney, your most important job is to keep the illusion of Disney alive. And there was a lot of stuff I learned there, but I think above all else it was this: In my six years working as a Walt Disney World "cast member" (that's what they called us), I did everything from working attraction lines, to taking pictures of park guests with costumed characters, to being an actual costumed character (more on that one in a minute). Your job is to keep the illusion of Disney alive
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