role list

so out of 14 roles im finding it ridiculosuly hard to order them!! but all of them seem to have hidden meanings...like operations...parking...anyone know how likely it is you get stuck in a car park/toll plaza if you get accepted for operations/attractions?? that would suck..

 

on my first program my friend was put in the parking lot for magic kingdom.
The parking lots are huge (disneyland can fit inside the magic kingdom parking lot) so they obviosuly need quite a few people to work in them!

 

I got operations for the second half of my program and was given the Jungle Cruise!

It may help if you tell them in your interview what you would really like to do. It might not help, but at least you won't always be saying 'well maybe if I told them...'

 

i cant believe there's so many to chose from though it's hard! i'd really like to do something like the jungle cruise or haunted mansion but parking lot i just think its a waste of a international cast member they could have so much more potential and americans seem to really like talking to english people so i the car park would be rubbish!

 

I would think to get put on a ride with operations they need to see evidence that you are comfortable talking in front of people. All the rides acquire some kind of crowd control... although some more than others. So experience of directing small or large groups of people would be good... drama experience would also help because many of the rides are scripted or require a certain amount of spontaneous acting (the cast on Haunted Mansion like to act particularly weird and eery to scare the guests as I'm sure you know). Particular awareness or training in health & safety would also be beneficial because that is very important on the rides. There's plenty of other qualities tho... They might ask you why you think you're suited to a position in operations if you put that first so bare some of these things in mind ;-)

But like Louisa said if there is a particular ride you can say you wanted to work on that would help a lot. They would appreciate it if you said something like it was your dream to work in Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean. Generally if they get the impression you've really researched what you want to do they will really like that. If you know what the ride entails what you want to do you will impress them.

 

I stressed that I wanted to do a ride with a script, seen as i have a degree in drama i thought I would push it and stress that i would like to do great movie ride (omg would love to do great movie ride so much!) I was in Florida last week and got well excited when I was on the great movie ride but like you said i could be doin car parking for six months. If you've not had your interview yet just keep dropping hints lol xx

 

O forgot to add there are low spec rides which don't have a script I guess rides such as Space Mountain, Star Tours etc are classed as that and then they have the high spec rides which have scripts such as Great Movie Ride and Jungle Cruise perhaps that will help making your decision? xx

 

thanks guys, really helpful stuff, i think im gonna research as much as i can into rides i might want to do, so i can stress that its a ride id want from operations not a parking lot....still im unsure on character attendent/peformer as well...ahhh decisions!!

 

Just a thought... Someone from work has just come back from working in Florida and they said they were told they weren't going to let international applicants become character performers anymore...

I don't know if that is true but I chose character at my interview in September and I got the impression it was more on availability (I didn't get given that). Kim said she isn't always given those roles to allocate. So I would say go for character performer personally... if you weren't meant to do it you'll get the same answer I had ;-)

Bare in mind with character attendant it can be quite tough as you often have to deal with angry guests who have been queing for Mickey Mouse for ages only to be told he is going inside for a break... if that doesn't bother you tho... go for it!

 

angry guests doesnt bother me that much...obviosuly if they were all happy then that would be good lol but then it could get boring...anyway kinda used to it i work in a rental store and if everything is being rented customers start shouting at you as if its you thats eaten all the films!!
theres then the height thing for characters though if they have too many in your height already you wont be needed either!
i've had to make so many decisions this week its driving me crazy!!

 

i have heard 2 'horror' stories from my uncle who lives in America about 2 people he knows (1 fired, 1 quit)who worked at Disneyland and WDW as charecter performers and the kids drove them nuts, not the hugs n the good things but being punched, kicked, choked, jumped on ect. last thing i would wanna do at WDW is screw up by lettin one annoying kid too many get to me (the guy who got fired let loose with a few 'very un-Disney' words, don't think i would do that but i might quit which would suck), think it would be less likely in other roles as the interaction is greatly reduced (if you sorta getwhat i mean by "less touching")

 

i cant keep my decision every day i seem to have a diff decision...this morning its operations...character p...charcter att....merch...yday is was character p first!

 

what ever you do... don't put down custodial or quick service if you are not willing to do it. They need loads of people in those roles, and from what i'v realised is that in most cases (not all) even if you put custodial or quick service really far down the list then you might end up getting it. they can only offer you a position in a role you have put down. of course some people really love custodial and quick service!!

 

i really dont want to do either of those roles...i thought we put all of the roles in like a full number order list...do we just number the one's we want to do then? like 1 to 5 or 3 or something?

 

i chose operations cus i had operated rides before but i got given it an ended up doing the turnstiles which i hate but as part of main street ops you get to do the parade control which is really fun so i just try to give my turnstile shifts away lol! i dont know anybody who ended up in the parking lot but i dont think it would be that bad really....

 

you dont have to number the roles which you dont want. for example if you are only willing to do merchandise, operations and custodial then only number those.

 

custodial has gotta suck, disney or not, all public toilets are bad enough to use, let alone having to clean them!

 

My bf worked Main Street Custodial and he loved it coz he got to watch Spectro and Wishes every nite git lol xx

 

yeh see every bad thing also seems to have a perk to it like getting to watch parades etc

but i dont see what the perk of the parking lot is...

 

hmm i was custodial for the ICP 07, i would want to try and be a character or a attendant. I'm so fussy when it comes to the rides id want to do haunted mansion or tower of terror mainly for the spooky aspect you have to have towards the guests, but of course there is a chance of not getting the ride you want...