Firstly I should say HELLO! As I am new to the forum I was so excited when I found out about the UK CRP, i've been reading all the info and bloggs i can get my hands on. But I was wondering does anybody know anything about the merch side of it? I've read so much about working in the Chippy and the Rose and Crown, but found nothing about working in merchandise, I presume it's just a gift shop (i've been to Disney World but I can't really remember much about the UK pavilion shops). Are they are many work placements in merch as there are in f&b? Thanks for any info you can give me! ;D x
First, welcome to the forums There's definitely fewer positions in merch than in F&B - probably one of the reasons you hear so much more about F&B. There's also a lot more roles within F&B (ie. chippy, food runner, bar, server) than in merch where, I believe, you only switch between different areas of the store (basically a fancy gift shop affair, as you say) and Kidcot. Someone who's actually been out there might be able to tell you more, but that's what I've learnt from researching for over a year about all this
I did merch. It was great. Do next to no work and get paid next to no money. But it's great if you'd rather chill out at the parks for a year rather than be stuck at work. There is a lot to learn from merch and I had a lot of repeat guests come to see me almost every week. It's really fun. Just don't expect to save much.
Hi! I haven't done CRP but I did the ICP this summer and was placed at the World Traveller which comes under the UK/France/Canada merch umbrella and I found the entire area to be a really great place to work, the managers and co-ordinators are all really lovely and although I didn't do any merchandise shifts in the UK I did do some Heart of House for the UK and France and found all the cast members to be lovely to. As far as the shops go I think there are only 2/3 there's the tea shop, the toy shop with Winnie the Pooh, kidcot and all the Beatles memorabilia and the sports shop but i'm not sure if the last ones are counted as 2. Work wise I'm not sure if this is always the case but this summer from what I was told UK merch were working a lot of hours and you do get paid less than F&B however you get to spend a lot more time interacting with the guests and create a lot of magic as guests would be super excited when they came to World Traveller on their way out of the park and saw I was from the UK and would talk about interactions they'd had with cast members in the UK and as Disney Geek said you get a lot of repeat guests come in as they have their APs and love to come to Epcot on a Sunday Anyway I loved working Merchandise in that area and couldn't apply for ICP again in fear of not having such a good location!
Thanks for your replies! My background is shop work so good to know there's a role for me out there. Merch sounds much better than f&b! Would be nice to get chance to interact with the guests properly. Haha hark at me, just realised how ridiculous I sound haven't even applied yet nevermind been accepted and selected for a role! But we have to dream don't we ;D Keep a look out for more silly questions coming soon to a forum near you! X
@WanabeInDisney Hiya! I've just got back from Florida about a month ago, having done the CRP in UK F and B. I HAD THE YEAR OF MY LIFE!!! DO IT!! My BFF in the US worked in Merch so I know quite a lot about the position. There are fewer jobs in Merch. For everyone one new Merchie, they will be around 4 F and B. There are around 5 mini shops you'll work in - Sports, Crown and Crest, Toy Solider, Lords and Ladies, The Tea Caddy plus there is a position called Kidcot which is where you help kids draw and colour in Disney things. Your main responsibility in each shop is the cash register and guest interaction. The main restocking is done by other Disney employees throughout the night. So you hang at the register and serve guests/chat to them. Quite stress free but also, according to my bff, very boring at some times! She didn't really like working in Merch that much as sometimes she found it so quiet and boring as you're the only cast member is each shop. But don't let you put that off, as most loved it!! I was in F and B and often wished I was working in Merch as F and B can be so overwhelmingly stressful!! It got to the point where you couldn't cope, and often Servers would cry!! awkward...!! ;D
