The Disney Job/Career Thread

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:52 pm

http://disney.go.com/disneycareers/disn ... geprogram/ is the College Program website. I can't answer your questions, but escapay and goofystitch are 2 members who I know have been in the CP previously, and mason_ireton just started in the program. You might want to PM or email them.

Jack Skellington · Post by **Jack Skellington** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:37 pm

UD, can you please tell me what does it take to be an imagineer, it always was my dream job, I just didn't take the option seriously, I always thought that taking business is the only option for me, but I have such creativity and my teacher feels bad if I waste it in taking business. I want to take a job in creating the design of the exterior buildings at the parks and I also want to help bring new ideas for the parks, what job titles would you recommend me ? What majors would you recommend me to take ? I'm thinking about taking architecture, if I wanted that job. BTW even though Disney is my first option there will always be jobs in theme parks in general.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your advice.

JDCB1986 · Post by **JDCB1986** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:55 pm

stewie15 wrote:Does anyone have any info on the college program. I am only going into grade 11 in September but that is something i really want to do. Is it hard to get into? What are the university classes that would help you get in? I am at a performing arts school now and am in the drama field. i am planing to continue that in university. would this help me get in?

university classes... taking something along the lines of the career you want at disney will naturally help, but there are several courses that are loosely related to the careers available with disney and will get you accepted... drama for instance will be perfect !

as for how it works...hey have a little audition process where you do some movement exercises... dances and things... and then you have a few interviews...

there is a bit of a waiting game they play with you while they send different paper work and stuff... they let you know what job you have been accepted for (if any) and you are put up in housing with fellow college programers... (you have to pay to get to florida or california...)

they give people in the college program the worst shifts and you work long hard hours for small pay (rent is taken directly out of your paycheck.) if you decide to quit, get fired or laid off you have 24-72 (i can't remember which) to have your things out of your room and to be gone.

if you want to work at disneyland or disney world your best bet (especially if you want to be a character) is to just go to one of the open auditions and be hired on as a regular "cast member." and most of the time they will put you in a costume before sending you directly to a face character... so being flexible and open about which character you play is crucial.

also, be able to dance or at least learn movement, because that is a requirement... let your personality all out when you go to your audition...hundreds of people want the job... you need to stand out (in a good way.) there of course is a lot more you will need to know and a lot more you will learn in doing the whole audition process... but hopefully that will get you started, or at least knowing what you are in for !

feel free to ask any other questions you have... i personally didn't go through the whole college process, but 3 of my best friends/roommates did/have... so i got quite an earful about the whole experience.

Jeffel · Post by **Jeffel** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:48 pm

I want to apply the summer programme thing again, I tried last year but was too late. They said they take applications for summer 2009 from August 2008 (so quite soon!) so I'll get in touch again.

You got any idea just how quickly you need to get in touch? I imagine they get a lot of applications very quickly but I'm doing a lifeguard qualification which finishes on August 9th and it'd be nice to have that done before I apply as something good to put on my CV and broaden the number of jobs I could do.

Also, when you say you need to be able to dance... what level are we talking here? You know, I can move to a beat, but dance dance... hmmm.

JDCB1986 · Post by **JDCB1986** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:15 pm

Jeffel wrote:Also, when you say you need to be able to dance... what level are we talking here? You know, I can move to a beat, but dance dance... hmmm.

you need to be able to learn a brief dance (30 seconds to 1 minute) which they will teach you over a short session. then you perform it in a small group at your audition. it is choreographed... so moving to a beat may not be enough... there are steps you need to learn... practice

*This post has been reformatted by a moderator*

PeterPanfan · Post by **PeterPanfan** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:29 pm

From the way various people/members have described the dancing/singing audition, it seems to be the equivilant to an auditon for a high school musical. They teach you an excerpt from one of the parade/show dances, and you perform it in small groups.

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:56 am

When I did a character audition a few years ago, what they do is teach you some pretty simle choreography, and then you perform it...you don't need to be perfect- the main thing is have a GREAT personality. If you mes up, just continue dancing, making up your own moves...think of what a character would do. NEVER STOP moving, because a character in a parade wouldn't stop moving.

Next was the pantomime portion of the audition. Our group was told to pretend to eat an ice cream sundae. A big ice cream sundae. You need BIG movements- in a parade or stage show setting, the audience needs to be able to understand what the character is doing.

I got put on the waitlist and never heard from them about it, but the audition is fun- just go into expecting fun and a new experience!

disneyfella · Post by **disneyfella** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:31 am

My experience was almost exactly the same as Amy's. I passed for Tigger as my VIP and never got called. But when we auditioned, they had so many people get accepted that they also offered us to test for puppeteering.

It was pretty cool. I was selected to go audition with a small group for Henson puppeteering (which was BEFORE Disney bought the Muppets). They gave us ping pong ball eyes to put on our hands and we had to make these puppets lip sync to Smash Mouth's "All Star". ROFL. Only 1 person that day was selected to actually train in puppeteering. It was a guy from my group who went on to do dark puppets as Mrs. Potts in some stage show that was in development at the time. I was not selected for puppeteering. But they did ask me to come back for a Tokyo Disney face character audition as Prince Eric. I came back, and the dance audition for that was absolutely incredible. I could barely keep up after 2 steps. Almost everyone there had formal dance training for that one (except me of course). Needless to say I was booted the first round....lol.

Also, after I left Florida and went back to school I got a random email AND phone call asking me to come back sans audition to be a face character for "Jim Hawkins" a new character they were releasing in the parks for Treasure Planet. So they totally keep your info. I do not regret turning them down, however, because I'm sure I wouldn't be where I am today if I went for it. I mean, Treasure Planet bombed and the face character was only out there for a month or so. I would have dropped out of college for that?

So, if anyone ever wanted to know what I look like, imagine Jim Hawkins without the pony tail...lol.

Jeffel · Post by **Jeffel** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:10 pm

So I applied for the summer work programme. Wish me luck!

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:34 pm

I hope you get in, Jeffel! Do you know when you should find out by?

Jeffel · Post by **Jeffel** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 12:59 pm

No idea when they'll get back to me. One of the people I e-mailed there said that most of the applications come when people go back to uni (so late september) so I'm guesing they'll spend October looking over everything and then maybe start contacting people by November? I'm just guessing though.

disneyfella · Post by **disneyfella** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:51 pm

Did you apply for the summer program or the spring program? I was thinking, that unless things have changed they don't usually hire for just the summer anymore. They prefer to hire for the spring extended program or fall extended. I was talking with one of the managers and they said that because it took a few weeks to train you not only for being a Disney cast member, but then also in your position as well; if they hired for just the summer program then they only got about 6 weeks of work out of you, and Disney wasn't seeing that as cost effective. That is why they established the extended programs.....to cover their staffing in the summer with cast members from the fall and spring programs.

They might have changed this, and I could totally be off but I wanted to give you a heads up. You can always call a Disney campus rep recruiter to check on the status of your application as well. They should have given you their phone numbers, but if they didn't I'm sure you can find it on their website.

Best of luck with the application, too! Be sure and keep us informed

You'll do swell!

EDIT: OOPS! I almost forgot. If I'm remembering everything correctly, they DO still offer the summer program......but only for people who have successfully completed a semester of the college program. When you return, you'd most likely be working the same position, but you would be fast tracked through all of the training since you've already had it.

Again.....I could totally be off on this, or things may have changed. Either way, you can always call your recruiter for answers

Flanger-Hanger · Post by **Flanger-Hanger** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:49 pm

I had my first job interview for The Disney Store yesterday and the second one will be on Friday! I'm so excited!

Here are some of the questions they asked me and my responses:

Q: What is Disney to you? A: "Look to the name Walt Disney for the finest in family entertainment!", and all those Disney videos at home and trips to WDW.

Q: Whose you're favorite Disney character? A: Basil [I wore my GMD pin and she was so impressed. She said no one has ever said Basil before (Ya, I bet lady!) and a store manager who likes the GMD is awesome in my book!]

Q: Where is your favorite store to shop at? A: HMV

Q: What was your best shopping experience?: Sid's at Disney-MGM (now Hollywood) Studios and finding movie posters for The Black Hole and The Great Mouse Detective.

Along with the typical job related questions, "who was your best supervisor?", "name one experience where you forget details" etc. and she really liked my ability to sell a pen. Since I said I would be interested in sales she just gave me a random object and asked me to sell it to her. An interesting challenge for sure. I said it's on sale, writes on all surfaces, doesn't bleed though paper and won't dry out quickly if you leave the cap on.

It went on for 50 minutes since there was another person there and she had to answer a few phone calls but it was a great experience and I hope I get the job.

slave2moonlight · Post by **slave2moonlight** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:59 pm

Flanger-Hanger wrote:I had my first job interview for The Disney Store yesterday and the second one will be on Friday! I'm so excited!

Here are some of the questions they asked me and my responses:

Q: What is Disney to you? A: "Look to the name Walt Disney for the finest in family entertainment!", and all those Disney videos at home and trips to WDW.

Q: Whose you're favorite Disney character? A: Basil [I wore my GMD pin and she was so impressed. She said no one has ever said Basil before (Ya, I bet lady!) and a store manager who likes the GMD is awesome in my book!]

Q: Where is your favorite store to shop at? A: HMV

Q: What was your best shopping experience?: Sid's at Disney-MGM (now Hollywood) Studios and finding movie posters for The Black Hole and The Great Mouse Detective.

Along with the typical job related questions, "who was your best supervisor?", "name one experience where you forget details" etc. and she really liked my ability to sell a pen. Since I said I would be interested in sales she just gave me a random object and asked me to sell it to her. An interesting challenge for sure. I said it's on sale, writes on all surfaces, doesn't bleed though paper and won't dry out quickly if you leave the cap on.

It went on for 50 minutes since there was another person there and she had to answer a few phone calls but it was a great experience and I hope I get the job.

Wow, I don't remember them asking any Disney related questions when I interviewed at the Disney Store! That would have been fun and easy for me! Ha. Maybe I just don't remember though, it was a few years ago. I was only getting a seasonal employee job though. In other words, they just needed some extra people for the holiday season. I did get it, though I got sick and had to quit like a week early. I got a throat infection because they were using me as a barker. I would stand outside the store and shout the day's sales for my entire shift, much to the annoyance of other mall workers. It did bring in a lot of customers though. It was some crazy idea of the manager's I guess. He doesn't work there anymore though, ha. He now works at Kaybee toys.

I'm not much good as a direct, person to person salesman though, or quick improvising, like if they had asked me to sell them a pen. I don't think I would have done well with that, ha. And I don't even get the question about naming an experience where you forget details. What does that mean? For favorite character, I would have said Scrooge McDuck but thrown in a mention of Ariel and Tink (and maybe Kim Possible and Alice), as usual. I also would have said The Disney Store was my favorite place to shop, which would have sounded like I was kissing up, but it would have been true, ha.

Sounds like you did well! Congrats and good luck!

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:09 pm

I'm glad the interview seemed to go well, Flanger-Hanger!!! I hope you get the job!!!

PrincePhillipFan · Post by **PrincePhillipFan** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:03 pm

I'm happy to hear the interview went well, Flanger-Hanger! I hope you'll hear back from them soon.

I tried to apply for a job myself over the summer, but had every place just tell me they would call me back and they never did which ticked me off to no end. Maybe I should try to apply at my local Disney Store for a job over winter break.

Jeffel · Post by **Jeffel** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 11:36 am

Right, so I've had a response about the summer programme in Florida and apparently they want to conduct a 10 minute phone interview with me. Argh, phone interview

At least it means I'm in with a shot though, they would've rejected me straight off the bat and wouldn't bother with any interview if there was no hope.

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:02 pm

That's great, Jefel!!! A bunch of people here on UD have been in the College Program, so maybe some of them could give you advice on the interview...?

Flanger-Hanger · Post by **Flanger-Hanger** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 2:15 pm

slave2moonlight wrote: And I don't even get the question about naming an experience where you forget details. What does that mean?

Sounds like you did well! Congrats and good luck!

Her example was a time she accidentally put the wrong price tag on an item and then had to change it later but she didn't notice it at first. It's basically a time where you may have overlooked something and what did you later do in that kind of situation.

That's for the wishes of good lucks and congratulations everyone! the second interview is tomorrow and I'm really excited for it!

Jeffel · Post by **Jeffel** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:48 pm

How'd the second interview go?

Got my phone interview tomorrow :s

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