Found myself wondering on a recent trip to Orlando…WHY does anyone work at Disney?
Driving down 1-4 is no joke. It's the worst road. Traffic is a nightmare. Like DEATH TRAP nightmate. Getting off 1-4 and to the back end of property to change into your costume is time consuming. There are no low cost housing options close to Disney, so you're stuck with a long commute.
I get that at one time working at Disney was fun and you could have some pride in your job.. Especially as a young person. Pre Michael Eisner Disney employees got stock and that stock paid a dividend. They also had a retirement plan and great health insurance. You got free tickets and days in the park- so low cost things to do on your day off. Living in Kisssimmee was inexpensive. You could buy a house in Orlando for under 100k. A little bungalow downtown Orlando that cost 60k in the 90's is now 400k. There was fun nightclubs at places like Pleasure Island where employees could get in for free and hung out together. If you got a mentor and into management training and education, you could move up.
I mean…there were always downsides to the place, but it wasn't the worst job in the world. They were notorious for not hiring certain “types” in some front facing roles. Someone once told me they had no “costumes” for people working guest facing roles over a size 12 or something for example…among a lot of other things like no moustache. I'm not romanticizing Disney of yesteryear though I think it was pretty good pre Eisner. He was the beginning of the end. AT one time he even closed all of pleasure island so his daughter could have her birthday party there.
Now I see these insane commutes, a park you'd never want to visit on your day off and a ton of limitations on how you can use your pass. If for some reason you did go, rides are broken constantly because they can't hire people to fix them. You've got to spend all day in an app to get on a ride. But mostly it's the traffic. I can't see how they are attracting ANY employees with the conditions that exist in Florida now. Living costs are high. They're acting like 10,000 people a year haven't moved to the place and they can still pay like it costs nothing to live in Florida.
Please…I'd love to know why you're still drawn to Disney as an employer.
Full disclosure…I know someone that has worked there 20 years now which is why I kind of know how it works.