So i want to be a cast member...

[yargg]

Alright since most of you seem to be cast members, and I am planning on applying at DL in the next month I was wondering if you could help me out with some questions i have.
-The website says they are hiring entertainment hosts, now I am not exactly sure what that is, but I am thinking they are the people who go around with costume characters, which I would absolutley LOVE to do. Does anyone know what the audition proccess is like, it says impromtu storytelling excersise..any examples of what this would be like?
- I went and got a job application about a month ago and was told 17 year olds were restriced jobs in food services, although the auditions for characters and e.h's say "must be 17". I have wanted to work on attractions FOREVER, and a lady I know really good friends is pretty high up there managers (she works in some corprate disney thing, idk exactly) and said she had never heard that rule, and it would be pretty easy to get around...true? How hard is it to get hired for attractions, if heard both extremes, but from pppl who worked there years ago. Last thing, if i was lucky enough to get hired in attractions is it possible to have some say in where you would work, because there are some places that would drive me insane.
I appreciate this greatly.<3. muchas gracias.

oh yes. happy holidays!

[shorty1219]

Corporate Disney people wouldn't be caught dead in the park...let alone know what all of the rules are.

[BirdMom]

You must be at least 18 to work in Attractions. Consider that an R.O. is operating heavy machinery and in effect resonsible for people's lives and you will understand why.

CM's have little say about where they end up these days from what I understand. You are assigned to a home department (say New Orleans Square) and learn the attractions in your area. If there is something you don't like, tough luck. You get stuck anyway, sometimes more than others. In the old days, if we were full time, we eventually got trained on everything if we were around long enough. I was West side, but never got trained on anything in Tomorrowland - I did work NO/CC, Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland, Toontown and GC on Main Street. In the off season, you could get stuck on something you hated for months at a stretch - for me, it would inevitably be Storybook. And I knew a lot of guys who hated geting stuck for a long time on either Subs or Jungle. I think they do things differently now - you'd have to ask one of the current R.O.s.

Good luck and I hope you're a patient person, because you need loads of it to deal with the guests on a day to day basis.

[DLRFantasmic!Dan]

All I can say is: RUN, RUN AWAY AND NEVER LOOK BACK!!! Run before they get you!!

Say good bye to your spare time, weekends off, getting the shifts you want, you are the bottom of the seniority pole. It will take about 6 months until you get cross trained and you will only workk like a four hour closing shift.

[AlpineDL]

If you just wait until you're 18, a ton of things will be much easier.

As for the way attractions is now... I hired in early summer, and have no trouble getting hours and got my first crosstrain after 3 months. Full availability probably is the reason why on all accounts, and some prior experience in that sort of job. I'm sure it can vary a LOT depending on which area you get, and apparently DCA is much harder on getting hours if you want them. If you do well in the interview and such, and again, I'm sure full availability helps a lot, you can most likely choose from a few areas.

Entertainment hosts is really demanding from what I hear, and I believe almost always goes to people who are already characters or have some DLR experience.

My advice: Wait until you're 18, especially since a CR position is a very major commitment that'd be very hard to manage with high school. College is another thing since most CR/students have certain weekdays fully devoted to one or the other. It could be a great job, but regardless of how well you do in an interview or on the job, without some prior job experience you'll probably get stuck in the Autopia-for-8-months purgatory that someone with mediocre availability and proven-turnover-risk faces. Better to work a bit at Target or whatever for a few months than lose your high school social life and get fired from Disney for attendance points.

[yargg]

My advice: Wait until you're 18, especially since a CR position is a very major commitment that'd be very hard to manage with high school.

[font=Georgia]Thanks for the advice, thats what I am thinking about doing now, I'll prolly apply to starbucks, so i have the previous work expierence, and its A LOT closer to where i live (DL would be a 35 min. drive everyday). I guess this year with prom, graduation-rehersals, grad night, and what not i would need too much time off.

The lady i know is encouraging me to try out for entertainment host though, she is convinsed that I would make it. And I am still thinking that would be fun... I just need the wil power to convinse my self that I should wait later this year.[/font]

[BirdMom]

Something occurred to me last night, and maybe it needs to be added to this thread.

You sound as if you really, really have the desire to work in the park but it has to be followed with commitment. You are young and you are still in the "I want to have fun" stage of life. Don't bother applying if you don't really understand the full implications of working nights and weekends and holidays. The standard line at Disney is "We work while others play." That means you work on Saturday when your friends are playing a pick up softball game at the park or surfing at the Wedge. You work on Christmas even if your family is begging you to stay home. You work on Friday night even though some hottie asked you out for Friday. That's just the nature of the beast.

My friend and I were talking last night regarding all those young CM's who call in sick on New Year's Eve, letting their crews and departments down because they'd rather have fun. When you are new, you are low in seniority and you will be expected to work the crap hours. If you honestly can't commit to it, spare everyone else and don't do it at all. I'm thinking of a young girl who used to work for my counter at a department store, begging for Memorial Day weekend off so she could go to the river with her friends and being told no because she was the newest and it was a huge sale weekend. She had her mother call sick for her, and of course went. She got busted by our department manager because there was no call sick the second day. Our DM called her home and without identifying herself was informed by said girl's brother that girl was at the river. Needless to say, she was fired upon her return. However, the point is that her selfishness compounded the work for those of us who could be bothered to do our jobs because we didn't have the scheduled pair of hands there, let alone the body required so that our counter would be fully covered during breaks and lunches.

One or more people calling in sick affects EVERYONE else. I totally understand when someone is really sick, say with the flu. Yes, stay home, keep your germs to yourself :) , but don't call in sick just because you don't feel like working!

If you social life is more important to you than a job at this moment in time, get a job with a company that doesn't operate 24/7.

[yargg]

I totally understand where your comming from, and the fact of the matter is that i AM only 17 and i do want to have fun. But i really have very little of a social life as it is, and that is usually my friends calling up wanting to hang out at Disneyland anyway. From some friends who work there, i have heard that all the fun you have working and the friendships you make with fellow CMs is way worth working Friday nights and Christmas.
But anyways I am still contemplating it. Not quite sure yet what I am going to do.
-and thanks for all of this, it really is helping me decide wether or not I want to apply.

[Zazu]

-and thanks for all of this, it really is helping me decide wether or not I want to apply.

Ah, trust me, you *do* want to apply. :D:

We're just trying to help you decide *when* you want to apply. Might be now, might be when you're my age. But later is probably better than too early.

[yargg]

Ah, trust me, you *do* want to apply. :D:

YESSSS i really really do. Not sure yet..I still am considering auditioning for entertainment host..but I might wait. I am thinking well, i have nothing better to do, but then I start thinking i should just enjoy that freedom til i graduate. I keep changing my mind about every... oh 10 min.