Hey guys! I was wondering what age they hire at the Disney Store? I would LOVE to work at the one in the mall near me, but I'm going to be 16 soon and a lot of places don't hire until you're 18. Thanks!
You have to be 18 to work at the Disney store although that might have changed since the Disney Store was bought by The Children's Place and so it's no longer a part of Disney at all. :-* Cheryl
For the last couple of years at Christmas, the Disney Store has been able to hire people at 16, but it's only seasonal and there is no chance of staying on afterwards if you're not 18. Like Cheryl said, TDS is no longer part of Disney anymore, so it is possible that this age restriction has been changed. They usually do their summer hiring (if they do it at all) very early, so go now if that's what you're looking for. Sandra
i can't believe they sold it!!!!!! that means only the stuff you actually buy at disney is truely disney! lol
I probably should've clarified that a little. It was only Disney Store North America that was sold to the Children's Place. The stores in Europe are still owned by Disney. The store in Japan were bought a few years ago by the same company that owns Disneyland Tokyo. At the moment, that company name escapes me.... Oriental Land Company...or something, I think. I was working at TDS when the sale went through. We didn't believe it either when we first heard that we were up for sale. After the sale, not too much changed in the store. The biggest change was the loss or change of many of our discounts. Everyone went to 30% discount instead of 20% or 35%. We were no longer entitled to our hotel, dining or merch discounts at WDW. We used to get 2 WDW one-day hoppers twice a year, plus we could get cast discounts on passes. Now, TDS cast are only able to get 3 passes a year and they have to call WDW in advance to let them know when they want them. I left TDS in January, but it had little to do with the sale. The store has changed over the years, even being owned by disney. lol... I guess things are bound to change after 7 years. Many CMs in both Canada and the US left when TDS was sold and many left because they lost their WDW discounts. Oh and lvwdw1, I'm not sure where you are located, but if you are in the UK, I learned at my interview that TDS in the UK does their hiring through Yummy Jobs, as well. Otherwise, in Canada and the US, you can just apply directly to the store. Sandra
Thank you so much, Sandra and everyone! I live in New Jersey, but thank you for the info anyway. That's shocking that they sold the Disney Store! Does anyone know why they did that? Also, is their summer hiring age 18, also? Jennie
Hi Jennie.... Your best bet would just be to apply now and see what happens. Sometimes for the summer, we'd hire and a lot of the time those people would stay on after the summer. I can't remember a time when we hired only for the summer. People were usually fighting for hours in the summer cause most of us were in school and wanted more hours when we were off. Again, it's possible that the age rules have changed since TCP took over. I don't think we hired anybody from the time TCP took over in November to January when I left. As for when Disney sold the stores... it's simple, they were losing money and disney didn't want to spend the money to attempt to turn business around. There were quite a few stores in the US that have closed over the years because of low sales. I think Disney tried to expand too quickly and there were stores in almost every mall in the US. In Canada, it was a little different. There weren't as many stores, so each store had a larger area of guests to cover and many would have to travel more than a few minutes to visit us. Now that TCP has taken over, they want to spend the money to renovate stores and expand product lines. For the first time in many years, the stores have adult clothing again, frames, mugs etc... Another thing to know, TDS had started to require that new cast have at least 1yr sales experience. Not sure how strict all stores were being, but my store had an extremely low (and rare) turnaround rate, so we were very strict. Another thing... I don't know where in NJ you are, but the store in NYC on 5th ave was bought by WDW, so you get all the perks the WDW cast get. If it's not too far of a commute, you might want to look into that. I'll find the website for ya. Sandra
