hi to every lucky person who was already at wdw I´m going to Disney as well, representing good old Germany , but it´s still a long time to go - almost half a year. My question for you guys who have been there: The programme says that the contract duration is always 12 months. Is there a possibility to leave Disney earlier? Is the departure date always really exactly 1 yr later? I know that Disney will pay the return flight only when you stay till the offical end of you contract... I´m asking cause it could be that I have to be somewhere else than Disney at that time: For instance, my date will be Sept,06, 2005 + 12 months ---> 09/06/06 wow ;D  okay, but the problem is that my apprenticeship will start for example 2 days earlier... Can I use my days-off for that particular time or is it against the contract? ??? Hope you understand what I wanted to explain to you Enjoy your day Anja
Hi Anja! If things haven't changed in the past few years your contract is just under 12 months. My arrival group arrived July 12, 2000 and we left July 7, 2001. I think it has something to do with the Q1 visa but I'm not totally sure. You'll be fine!
I don't know about international programs, but I know that for the College Program, if you had extenuating circumstances (for instance school starting soon) then you may be able to leave early. The programs always end about 5-6 days before the "month" marker (Mine was a 4-month stay since I'm an American. I was there January 29 2003 to May 23 2003). Talk to your recruiter about it- I'm sure they can explain the details to you better than any of us can!
Talk to them now. By the time you talk to them in Disney, it may be too late to arrange anything. Besides, then, when you book your ticket, you can book your return flight home, too!
Hey Anja, Im heading out to florida on march 15th and my offer letter says my contract ends march 10th 2006 so like everyone says the contract is just less than a year! See you out there!
As everybody said, you are supposed to stay for 12 months. I stayed from September 24th to September 23rd. If you decide to leave early, you usually don't get your leaving letter, and you will get a "no-rehire" status within the Walt Disney Company. I think some people managed to leave one or two weeks earlier without such consequences, but that's usually it. Leaving months early is out of the question. That being said, no rule without exception, especially not with Disney. I know people who left early and still got their leaving certificates. I don't know about flight payment. Our manager kept telling people who left early that they would be welcome to come again, meaning that she probably didn't have a clue about what was going on. And some people have successfuly started working at Disney Cruise Lines and Disneyland Paris after having left early - seeing the administrative mess that Disney is I couldn't have imagined that "no rehire" status getting enforced globally anyway. In any case, you have to remember that you can always leave earlier if you want to, if you take into account the consequences, which aren't that severe in my opinion. You don't even have to tell anyone beforehand, some people just never showed up for work again. Disney wants to make you believe that it is a life-threatening decision to go back, but it certainly is not. The other danger is that you might just like it too much, just like I did. I had planned to leave earlier, I didn't tell Disney initially and when I finally HAD told everybody that I was going to leave early, I realized that I didn't really want to. I managed to stay for 12 months AND still get into service. You're still master of your mind when you're there. Or you should be at least
One of my friends left 2 months early and was able to graduate and going his leaving letter and money etc..... But don't ask them now, wait utnil you are there, otherwise they may think that your heart is not in it.
hey - cool - so many answers! : YEs I think so too, I´m going to talk to them about this issue when I will be there and they´ll know with whom they are dealing with, otherwise it might show up the impression that I do not really what this whole thing and already plan ( I know I am but just for several days... ) to leave earlier... Baia Dankie GUYS
Yeah just let them know and they can arrange your contract around the dates you have to be back. As long as you do it now and don't tell them once you're over there you get your relocation money (flight home) and everything
That seems to differ from pavilion to pavilion then, I know about 20 Germans who left early and NONE of them got their leaving package or their flight. One was rumoured to have gotten it, but I don't have proof. And the people who left early did it differently, some told Disney straight away, some in due time, some immediately before leaving and some not at all. Didn't make a difference - no leaving package, no flight. I think it's down to the managers and whether something goes wrong. You can be lucky or have the right managers. But don't count on any of it, and definitely not in Germany. But I agree with not telling Disney before one is in Orlando. Everything else would just ruin your chances and telling Disney didn't help a bit in our case anyway. In fact, if I hadn't told them before, I wouldn't have had any trouble when I decided I wanted to stay instead of leaving early...
i left 1 week earlier and had absolutely no problems! i think if it's no more than 2 weeks it should be fine!! flavour xoxo
It's definitely no problem to quit a week prior to your regular leaving date. And like some others said, if you start September 6th you will be finished a few days before that, too. You can also take unpaid holidays in the end. I barely went to work in my last month, cause I still wanted to visit so many places. You get a graduation about a month before you leave and also your "diplomas" and stuff. If you have a good manager you will also get your leaving letter on time. I also have 2 friends who only had a 9 months contract, because of university studies. This is a very special thing though which Disney usually doesn't do. And besides that you will have soooo much fun that you want to stay as long as possible. You should be fine with the 2 weeks you can shorten! Laterz Julia :-*
Sorry, should have read more closely, one to two weeks should be fine, that happened quite often. Anything more than that and the aforementioned applies. So yeah, you're all right with what you're saying. It only gets difficult if it's more than that...
