How To Become A Cast Member at Walt Disney World

If the thought crossed your mind one day while visiting Walt Disney World that you would like to work here, you are not alone. The magic of Walt Disney World draws many previous guests back to the resort for the purpose of working there. Below you will find the steps you should take if you want to become a Cast Member.

CONTINUE READING

How To Become A Cast Member at Walt Disney World

Talk to other people who are already Cast Members. If you are serious about applying they can guide you in that process and if you put their information on your application they can get a cash reward for recommending you! They can give you a realistic understanding of the work you will be getting into. Visit www.disneycareers.com where you can read stories of Cast Members and see current openings.
If you would like to be a part of the wildly popular College Program you can access information here: http://wdw.disneycareers.com/en/students/overview/     Check with your university registration office to make sure they are part of the program. You will be given a job, at Disney’s discretion, earn college credit, be educated in the Disney way, have housing and transportation with housing fees taken out of your paycheck, and be part of a group that is hard working and enjoying perks like admission to the theme parks.

While visiting the parks as a guest, really take the time to observe how Cast Members perform their duties and their interaction with guests, of all kinds. You will be expected to be knowledgeable in all your duties, making safety your number one focus, you will demonstrate a professional presence, and use good judgment. You are literally “on-stage” whenever you are around the public. Your appearance and demeanor need to present “good show”. There is so much more to working an attraction, for instance, than telling people what row to get into on the ride vehicle. Listen to how some guests speak to the Cast Members. Do you think you have the patience to answer the same question 100 times a day, or helping a guest who is not asking in a nice way at all? Do you know your park well enough to be able to tell a guest where they can find a corn dog or a turkey leg? Are your verbal skills good enough to point a guest to the nearest restroom quickly?

Be realistic in your expectations. Decide if you want to work full time or part time. Do you need healthcare? Then you need to choose Full Time because it is not available for part time workers. Full time CM’s also enjoy Vacation and sick leave. Disney prefers applications without restrictions on days and hours. However, you will have an opportunity at your in-person interview to tell what three days you prefer to work as a part time applicant. They will then schedule you for any hours during those three days that are appropriate to the season. For instance when the park is extremely busy, during the Holidays and summer hours the parks will most likely stay open for longer, so they need CM’s to stay also. You may wind up working some very long shifts for several days in a row. Be sure you are physically able to do that.
Don’t expect to start at attractions and find yourself in an Animator’s position a year later. Networking is important at Disney, as it is in every corporate business. Share your desire to move up into any position in the animation department with anyone who may be moving up the ladder themselves. It is not impossible, but it definitely has challenges. There are many talented and bright individuals currently doing all kinds of jobs below what they are capable of, waiting for an opportunity to open up within the company. There are also talented college-age students trying out the company and earning school credit at the same time. Actually you will find Cast Members in all age brackets and stages of their careers. You will see the starting pay for the different positions on the website, can you live within that pay grade? Visiting warm Florida in the midst of multiple blizzards up north is different from living here all year, do you think you can tolerate the hot and humid summers?

You will have to have the “Disney Look”. What does that mean? It is a “clean, natural, polished and professional” look according to the disneycareers website. You will be wearing a Disney costume when onstage and thanks to the large Costuming department you can get a clean costume for each shift if you don’t want to wash them yourself. It is convenient that the costumes do wash well at home and rarely need ironing so there is no reason for you to have a dirty or damaged costume. That takes care of your costume, what about your personal appearance. Disney does not permit visible tattoos, filing of teeth, earlobe expansions, spacers or retainers, or jewelry to name a few. If you wear glasses they need to be very simple without any adornments or logos and be in a conservative color. Sunglasses follow the same restrictions. No mirror lenses are permitted. There are hair considerations. For men, hair must be cut neatly and symmetrically and should not cover any part of the ears or shirt collar. Men may shave their heads but not their eyebrows. For both men and women they cannot have crazy colors or bleaching. Men can sport a fully grown beard, mustache or goatee as long as it is neatly maintained at no longer than ¼”. You cannot let your facial hair “grow out” while you are working, it must be fully grown to meet standards. Females must have a classic style, hair out of the face, no shaving of the head or eyebrows, no extreme colors or styles, blended neutral colors for any makeup worn, fingernails clean and only polish in neutral colors, no bold colors of polish permitted, no charms or decals allowed on fingernails, fingernails may not extend beyond ¼” beyond fingertip.

CONTINUE READING

How To Become A Cast Member at Walt Disney World

Try to get an internship whenever possible. This will give you a possible leg up in the seeking of a professional career at Disney. When you visit the disneycareers website select “Internship” in the Job Type menu. These are also sometimes listed on the Disney Interns Facebook page and an additional website: DisneyInterns.com

Applying for a job-you start at www.disneycareers.com and search through the available jobs. Find what matches your skills or previous work experience by using those in the search field. If you are not ex-Military or have previous Police experience, don’t expect to get a job in Security. Carefully read the job descriptions. Does this sound like something you would enjoy? Read the job qualifications. Do you meet the qualifications? If you can answer “Yes” to these questions and you are ready to begin the process, click on “Apply”. It will prompt you to a personal profile and a series of questions for you to complete online. Hit “Submit” and you will receive an email telling you your information has been received. You can check the status of your application by logging in to your personal dashboard. You will be applying for your top three choices, and you can only apply once every six months so do your best to match your experience and education with the job requirements list. Your application will be kept on file during this six months. After successfully completing an online application you will be contacted regarding a phone interview. After successfully completing the phone interview you will be called to schedule an in-person interview. It is here where you will be assigned to a job. You will be scheduled for a “Traditions” class followed by your job training. Job training varies depending on the job. For instance a major attraction will be about 5 days of training, where as a Disney bus driver would have more like six weeks of training. The bus drivers have to have knowledge of all the routes on Walt Disney World property as they can be sent anywhere, from anywhere, on property. You will have a CM ID with which to use to get your costume pieces. Most of the positions require you to get your own shoes (and undergarments of course) but they also sell comfortable shoes at Costuming if you don’t want to go shopping for shoes off property that meet the Disney look.
So if you are saying a bold “YES!” to all of these questions, what are you waiting for? I will tell you what a Cast Member told my family the last time we visited Walt Disney World as Guests, “It only takes a decision to get you here.” My family did make that decision and we made the move. None of us regret it. There are jobs for the whole family, provided they can say yes to all those questions and they are age 18 and over. Maybe this really is where your “dreams come true”.

13 Secret Rules All Disney Employees Have To Follow

1.

 

Cast Members

 

 

 

 

First of all, when you work for Disney, you're not an employee. You're a cast member. From the characters, to the ride operators, to the janitors…they're all cast members. 

 

 

2.

They know everythings

 

 

 

A cast member is never allowed to say "I don't know." If a guests asks a question that they don't know the answer to, they have to pick up a telephone and call an operator. 

 

 

 

CONTINUE READING

13 Secret Rules All Disney Employees Have To Follow

3.

Facial hair is a big deal for cast members at Disney. All facial hair must be fully grown in, fully trimmed, or fully shaven. Cast members are not allowed to shape their beards. If you decide to keep a mustache, it may not cover your lip and it may not extend past the edges of your mouth. 

4. 

 Cast members are not allowed to shave their eyebrows. Men's hair cannot extend over their ears or the collars of their shirts. Women's hair must be neatly brushed at all times. Braids are allowed but beads are not. 

5.

 A cast member playing a specific character must learn the autograph perfectly. This is to ensure that no matter what day you meet a Disney character, the autograph will always be the same. It doesn't matter who's in the suit, they all practice the exact same autograph so the experience will be the same. 

 

 

CONTINUE READING

13 Secret Rules All Disney Employees Have To Follow

6. 

There is a height requirement to be one of the Disney princesses. If you want to be a Disney princess, you must be between 5'4" and 5'8". 

7.

 Women cast members fingernails cannot exceed 1/4" past the tip of their fingers and are not allowed to have any nail polish. Men cannot let their nails grow past their fingertips at all.

 

8.

No visible tattoos are allowed to be a Disney cast member. This also includes tongue piercings and ear gauging. Basically any body modifications other than standard pierced ears for women. 

 

 

CONTINUE READING

13 Secret Rules All Disney Employees Have To Follow

9. 

 Even the smallest details like wearing prescription glasses are regulated. If you do wear glasses, they may not display a brand or logo on the frame. Also the frames must be conventional. 

10. 

 There is a reason that the Disney resorts are so clean all the time. Every employee is told to pick up trash as soon as they see it. 

11. 

 

Even the way they pick up the trash has a Disney specific guideline. If a cast member sees trash on the ground, they are not allowed to bend over to pick it up. The cast member must use the "scooping method" to pick up the trash. 

 

12. 

 

 

 Pointing is not allowed by any cast members. If you ask for directions from a cast member, they will typically use a gesture like using their whole hand to guide you or a few fingers together. Pointing with one finger is considered offensive in some cultures making it not allowed at Disney. 

 

13. 

 If you do work at Disney, you cannot talk about anything that you do on ANY social media platform. Good thing we don't work for Disney or we would not be cast members for very long. 

11 Crazy Things Disney Employees Have Witnessed While Working

1. This awful mom/dad:

 Binack:My sister had a job in a store at WDW throughout college. She said one time in a gift store, a parent asked if their son with cancer could meet Darth Vader. After my sister told them her store does not have a Darth Vader costume or even any Star Wars memorabilia, they freaked out and asked for her manager. After about an hour of waiting the child is greeted by my sister in a Darth Vader costume that came from across the park in a Star Wars section. Once greeted the parent told the child, “I knew we wouldn’t have to walk to the other side of the park! I love cancer.”

 

CONTINUE READING

11 Crazy Things Disney Employees Have Witnessed While Working

2. This very public breakup:

 

 

 

 

Azov237: I was working in the kitchen at Cinderella’s Castle when this family of four came in for their dinner. About halfway through the dinner the husband politely stands up and taps his glass for attention. He announced that his wife of 15 years has been cheating on him for over a year. The entire place stood still in shock. He motioned for his kids, paid the waitress, and left the wife crying at the table.

TL;DR: Guy tells an entire restaurant his wife has been cheating on him.

3. This ceremonial gesture:

 

Overnight_cm_girl: Overnight cast member here. Please PLEASE leave your cremated loved ones at home. Stop dumping them in Haunted Mansion. They just get vacuumed up and disposed of.

TL;DR: People scatter ashes at Haunted Mansion.

4. This incident:

 

Vashthechibi: I never saw anything that extreme, but here is my wildest story: One time, as soon as the lights went out [on the Sounds Dangerous: Drew Carey ride], I saw a guy straight up finger bang his girlfriend/wife. It was obvious that he had been on the attraction before because he had it timed perfectly so that no one knew what he was doing. He wasn’t even caught when the lights suddenly came on, and he was back at it as soon as the lights went out again. These kinds of things were not common occurrence, but it was funny to watch those people carry on afterwards as if nothing ever happened.

TL;DR: Guy got frisky with his girlfriend on the Drew Carey ride.

5. This child’s innocence:

Flickr: jasonahowie

DorothyGaleEsq: I was a safari driver at the Kilimanjaro safari attraction in Animal Kingdom. We had this elephant named Willy. Willy was an exhibitionist. I was driving a safari one day, spewing out facts about elephants when I hear a tiny voice from the back of the truck yell, “MOOOOM! HE HAS FIVE LEGS!!!” I turn, and sure enough, there’s Willy, standing with his five foot long dick just swaying in the Florida breeze. I had to turn my mic off, I was laughing so hard.

TL;DR: An elephant named Willy showed off his Willy.

 

CONTINUE READING

11 Crazy Things Disney Employees Have Witnessed While Working

6. This bad example of parenting:

 

 

 

 

Broken_long_thumbkey: This couple was trying to ride Space Mountain, and had a black duffle bag. [My brother] heard something come from the bag, so he asked them to open it. They refused. Security comes, forces them to open it. It was their six-month old baby.

TL;DR: Someone tried to smuggle in their 6-month-old baby into Space Mountain.

7. And this one:

Atheistpiece: We had a lady try to smuggle an infant onto Indy at DL one time. She put a huge jacket on (in the summer) and stuffed her child down near the bottom in an attempt to look pregnant. Several cast members warned her that it is not recommended that pregnant women go on the ride, but she insisted, and we couldn’t stop her. So she manages to get on the Jeep, and puts the seat belt on, and that was when her stomach started screaming and crying.

TL;DR: A woman hid her infant in her jacket so she could ride an attraction.

8. This not-so-happy ending:

 

 

 

Steakandasideofsteak: In the dark of the theater [at Honey, I Shrunk the Audience ride], some girl decided this would be a good time to go down on her boyfriend. Little did she know, about halfway into the show, one of the effects is this little tube that comes wiggling out of the seat to simulate mice running by your legs. This hit her throat, she bit down, and the guy was bleeding pretty profusely. A Grad Nite to remember!

TL;DR: Some girl goes down on her boyfriend on a ride and accidentally bites down, making him bleed everywhere.

9. This uprising:

Flickr: keristars

AnOfferYouCantRefuse: When I was working the front of a character line I saw a Make-A-Wish complaint happen. The guy who was next in line shouted, “I wish my kid was dying so we could skip lines too!” How disgusting, right? What ensued was one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen. The ENTIRE line of people who heard it began booing him, shouting at him to get out of the park, and then as a group of about 45 followed him around for an hour complaining to his face until he couldn’t take it anymore and left the park.

TL;DR: Some prick complained about a Make-A-Wish kid, the entire line yells at him and follows him until he leaves the park.

10. This bomb scare:

 

 

 

Steakandasideofsteak: Someone had left an abandoned bag at the base of Space Mountain for more than 15 minutes, so we followed the normal security procedures and they brought a bomb dog out to sniff it. When our Pluto came to check the bag, he sniffed it and then sat down, which signals there is something wrong with this bag. So we had to evacuate all of Tomorrowland, literally all of the attractions/stores/restaurants, and all the CMs (cast members) were standing at all the entrances freaking out because now of course we were sure a bomb was going to go off and we would all die. Turned out that the backpack was just forgotten, full of carne asada burritos, and Pluto sat down because he thought he was getting a treat.

TL;DR: Someone left a bag, they called a bomb dog named Pluto, he sniffed and sat down, which signals that something is wrong, everyone panics, turns out it was a burrito and the dog wanted a treat.

11. And this Grad Nite trip:

 

LonelyHarley: On Pirates of the Caribbean, a girl in the back row was seen on the security cams giving her boyfriend a blow job. As soon as he blew his load, she leaned over to spit it out, when the overhead PA boomed, “Not in the water.” She was so startled she swallowed.

TL;DR: Girl gives guy head, tries to spit it in the water, gets called out by the PA system.