Working at Disney — Reviews by Employees

I worked at MGM studio's as a kiosk vender. If you go under their paid internship, You might as well know you're signing your life away as slave labor. They only pay about 6 an hour, and deduct most of the money in your check to their private apartments. Most of the rest of the money will have to go to food. Survival is the name of the game. Especially when you work in Foods, and you're forced to throw so much away, sometimes it's heartbreaking. You're not allowed to eat it, even when it's considered "spoiled". You'll get in trouble. However smelling it, and throwing it all away on an empty tummy is miserable. Talk about the 7th layer of hell. Don't get me wrong, there were benefits to it. And if I had perhaps told them Food was unacceptable, I could of done something else. Pay would of still be to survival levels, but maybe I would of liked my job more. Even custodial work had to be better than my position. It's hot, the love bugs will swarm you whenever you make hot nuts, they'll get in your hair, all over your clothes. You'll be working alone constantly, so if something goes wrong you have to radio in a manager. They don't train you nearly long enough before they just leave you to fend for yourself. It's very lonely working by yourself, without anyone else to talk to. You have "guests" but usually they just want their food, directions, or to yell at you because their day just wasn't quite magical enough. Though occassionally, you will have one that will be so sweet, it'll touch your heart a little.

Walk Disney is all about the bottom dollar. It's a lot like the military. I requested to be switched to a different position, but they never assisted me in that. My Disney experience was awful, though I did make a couple friends, and I did love being able to visit the parks on my free time, and go swimming in the Vista Way pool.

I worked in Anaheim in mid-management. Decent pay, not great. Benefits are okay not stellar like you would think based upon reputation. My direct manager and director were horrible. My direct manager was a mean bully who got away with abusing employees for years. Her director was just as bad as he was incapable of managing her and just stuck his head in the sand. My co-workers were great but not good enough to make working there worth while. Also, lose your illusions about it being a great company that really cares about its employees. It's just another big company that doesn't hesitate to lay you off after 1, 5 10 or 38 years with the company--saw it for myself!

Disney is the bane of my existence. They say that they value me and all of the other booking agents as "where the magic begins" for future guests and that we're responsible for filling the resorts and keeping other Disney employee's jobs. Ironically, they don't seem to care much about helping me keep mine. They handicap my efforts by forcing me to work within a rigidly self-defeating system where guests are encouraged to use the website over talking to me...I cannot speak of any package special until the guest mentions it (even if it was playing on television ads over and over) specifically by name. People call in to speak to an expert on Disney and here I am... playing dumb. Would you want to call in to a line like that? I know I certainly wouldn't. Why even bother to ask what someone is "celebrating" when this isn't acknowledged when the guest travels? You just raise expectations for something that isn't going to happen. And I can't tell you how much fun it is to be forced to ask someone if they're celebrating that horrible event that caused them to cancel their booking. Yes, even then, I have to ask that damn question.

I am at the mouse's beck and call day and night. I am given the illusion of a steady reliable planned schedule but this changes at a moment's notice more often than not. Days are shuffled, hours moved, and all of the sudden that day-trip for errands I had planned has been shot to hell because now I get to work a ten hour shift in its place (often after being notified one to two days prior).

Disney breaks their own rules on a whim, and operates under a delusional worldview. The guests are valued but the employees that got them there are not. You, I, and everyone else under the mouse's control are utterly expendable. Think about that before you slap those ears on your pretty little head. The union can't come fast enough!!

I just moved back home after work in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, FL for 2 years. Honestly, the worst part is the pay, which is very low but the experience is deffinatly worth it especially if you are passionate about Disney. However, at the end of the day, you do work at a theme park where rides break down and people can be unhappy. While it deffinatly had it's bad days though, overall it was a fun place to work and they do try to make the cast feel appreciated even in such a large organization. The hours could get very long but managers did try to keep everyone encouraged. The benefits of working in the theme parks and getting in for free and the discounts were great but I am glad I did not have to rely on them for insurance. It's very difficult to work at Disney with only that income, I was fortunate to have a husband who had a "grown up job".

Hm, this was my third job, and I have to say this place wasn't so bad. Pay was good, respect was somewhat alright, but only if the managers and leads liked you. They were very selective of me. Benefits were awesome, job security is a plus, and if you don't have family or friends and don't celebrate holidays, work/life balance is perfectly fine, unless you're like me and was either at school or work. Missed my boyfriend's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas eve and day, New Year's Eve, etc. Career potential is good. You can definitely grow if you are close with the managers and are on their good side. Too bad they can't judge by your work ethic like they should be doing. Location was way too far from me, but I did it because of the College Program, which was a bunch of bull but looked great on your resume and transcript. Co-worker competence is the high-light of this review. WHY are there people who think they are better than you? What is their problem? Because I'm Asian and you're White doesn't make a difference. Just because you're friends with the White girl doesn't force you to hate me either people. The White Demon as I would like to call it. She would gather followers and they would give me a hard time at work. Soon they spread rumors about how I tried to make this one guy break up with his gf. Honestly, I was dating someone back then and THAT WAS MY BOYFRIEND. What is WRONG with these people? They're a bunch of high school kids that let Disney become their life! Anyways, I got tired of trying to fix things and decided to leave that hell hole. Work environment weren't even that great, if you talk about the "break areas". They're located RIGHT NEXT TO THE DUMPSTERS AND SEWERS.

Only thing I remember was me and Pluto (with the head taken off) sharing a cigarette by the dumpster during our break. We were both so miserable that we smoked our sorrows away.

Make sure you keep in touch with your good co-workers. Some turn out to be the best of friends, and some just for references on your resume.

ON TOP OF THE GUESTS TREATING YOU LIKE A DOG, THE COMPANY DOES THE SAME.

I did the College Program 2008 at Disneyland and it was the best time of my life! I've always strived toward a high-paying career track in the government (which I now have), but even being a dirt poor bottom-feeder was excellent because I had the time of my life. Everyday was better and better; you make a lot of friends there, network, and have so many opportunities that are not only beneficial to your career development, but also to your personal growth.

Pay: $10/hr. Better than some! Unfortunately almost all of it went into housing rent ($800/mo), which is currently mandatory arrangements in CA.

Respect: You don't get any unless you really put yourself out there and reach for it; you have ot make a name for yourself in your housing complex as well as in you workplace! I also think it depends on how many people you work with (I only had a team of about 40)

Benefits: Free park passes and free bus pass.

Job security: don't be late.

Work/Life balance: Fine for me! I worked with friends, went to the parks nearly every day, went shopping, to the movies, concerts, weekend roadtrips to ALL over the place; the apartments were actually very fun (even though there are a ton or rules) because everyone was always visiting each other.

Career potential/growth: this is an excellent job to list on your resume. I get asked about it all the time, so if you are planning on using it to boost your chances with another company it will work for sure! Growth within Disney...it's possible, but you need to go waaaay out of your way to advance and also need seniority and networking skills It's more like a friendship circle than a council.

Location: I have lived in 9 cities around the world and SoCal is honest to god the best place I've ever lived. It's amazing.

Co-worker competence: most of my coworkers were potheads, but they knew their training to the T. Very professional around guests and knew how to work the system.

Work environment: very image-oriented. I learned a lot about guest services, and the company culture was amazingly accomodating, encouraging, and had a strong culture. It was a very feel-good company, and your workplace reflected that whether you wanted it to or not.

Over the years working at Disneyland went from great to just Okay. No thanks to Michael Eisner. Enough said. I would not recommend working there now as it just isn't the same as the "Good Old Days".

I think much of the negative comments regarding Disney are from "on-stage" cast members. Working as a salaried, full-time employee, many of my co-workers' gripes are fairly common among any other job. Everybody can't be happy...but looking at what the company offers...it's a pretty good place to work...if you are salaried. The wide swath of layoffs had everybody on pins and needles, but the reality is that almost every company out there is downsizing...so that's really not Disney, but a result of the economy. Here are the positives (for salaried employees): good pay, great benefits, decent 401K match, the only company I know of that offers a pension to "white-collar" employees, great job if you have kids - you can get your fill of the theme parks and merchandise discounts, great name brand of the resume, I would say most of my co-workers are very bright, and generous a educational reimbursement. The negatives: communication among management down to the staff levels is disjointed, it seems that people get promoted not for skill but rather time served....as a result, people managing really shouldn't be managing in the first place, and you are expected to work yourself to the bone.

disney is the best ahahah is where dream comes true ahahahaha i am here and i tell you that we would make the employees clean up the kid snot and crap and all that every nite!!! ahahahahahaha you all love the smell that is in disney store??? i have a big bottle of perfume hahah disney owns the scent ahahahha well we have a history of making dreams come true so who cares ahaha you have to believe and to dream and all that ahahha as for rules i mean ... disney doesnt really need any....mouses cant really get drivers licenses and hoes are not princesses and sorry to tell you but elephants dont fly. but you do gotta dream yawl....you gotta bounce