Last updated 30 June 19 Fun in 2019.
Walt Disney World (D) work
requirements for seasonal/casual temporary (CT) employees are 150 hours per
year. You also have to work at least every 6 months to retain your proficiency.
Therefore, I am trying to work at least 40 hours every quarter. Ds web site is
set up for CTs to enter their availability is orientated toward working a week
at a time, but a day or two a week is best for my schedule. My current
availability is Sundays only and CTs are required to update their availability
at least quarterly but I try to do it through the end of the next 12 months.
The next 3 weeks availability cannot be changed, but any availability after
that can be updated at any time.
I work in Disneys Animal
Kingdom (DAK) DinoLand Boneyard. When I first applied
there were no CT openings in park operations (then called attractions), but I
requested it anyway. So it is still worth filling out an application you
never know what jobs will be available next week. Read my 2008 story to see how
my career started. http://wdw.disneycareers.com
is the web site to apply for D jobs. Review my comment on D employment at the
bottom of this page.
I started working at Disney
in 2008 and worked 14 days see how it all started - Dave in Disney 2008.
I worked 15 days in 2009 - Dave in Disney 2009
I worked 24 days in 2010 - Dave in Disney 2010
I worked 21 days in 2011 and
started counting hours - Dave in
Disney 2011
I worked 27 days in 2012 - Dave in Disney 2012
I worked 27 days in 2013 - Dave in Disney 2013
I worked 26 days in 2014 Dave in Disney 2014
I worked 24 days in 2015 Dave in Disney 2015
I worked 24 days in 2016 Dave in Disney 2016 I was too
busy at year end to update my blog.
I worked 22 days in 2017 Dave in Disney 2017 I was too
busy at year end to update my blog.
I worked 24 days in 2018 Dave in Disney 2018
I have worked 05 days in 2019
238 work days total in 11 years and 11 months.
I work at D for the fun of
it. It is really great fun helping people who are having fun, have fun. I have
received many 50% and 40% discounts on rooms, discounts of 35%-40% on
merchandise, 20%-40% discounts on meals, discounts on tours, have received
special considerations at reservation time, free admission for me, provided
friends and family free admission to D, and a million fun times.
I am only trained to work in
DAK DinoLand Boneyard which features a playground
area with 9 slides for kids and a dig site where kids can dig for dinosaur
bones. If I can continue to work at least 40 hours a quarter, I see no reason
to request training or work in other areas. In the Boneyard, there are no
lines, no high restrictions, and no rides which may break down.
The year started out with my
trip to WDW to get a new company identification badge since I lost mine on
30Dec18. After my manager send access control an email, I went to where access
control was when I started. They had moved a couple of months ago to the Disney
Springs area. I located the building where access control and found hundreds of
new employees going through processing. There are 75k Disney employees in
Florida and with many being college interns the turnover is probably high. Anyway
I found access control and got a new identification badge.
Week 10 02/24/19 - Sun. February 24 7.5 hours total for 2019 7.50 hours I was scheduled to work based on my
availability. It was nice day which caused all the local annual pass holders to
come. I talked to many guests from the Tampa and Jacksonville areas.
Week 11 03/03/19 Sun March 03 7.0 hours total for 2019 14.50 hours I was scheduled to work today based on my
availability. It was another very nice day. I spent a lot of time talking with
some guests from Canada. There were 6 different families from Canada. Several
said they were tired of snow.
Week 12 03/10/19 Sun March 10 12.0 hours total for 2019 26.50 hours I was scheduled to work today based on my
availability. It is spring break time. The number of guests was high. Since I
had to get to work at 8:30 there was still parking available in the cast
parking lot. I spent some time talking with a couple of families from Ireland,
reminding them of how the strong the sun was and to make sure they were had
enough sun screen.
Week 24 06/02/19 Sun June 02 3.18 hours total for 2019 29.68 hours I was scheduled to work today based on my availability.
At the start of the shift I had some training to do. The trainer and I went
over to the training room and completed the required training updates. Upon
returning to the breakroom, I started getting miscellaneous tasks such as
parking strollers, cleaning the break room, restocking the hand sanitizers,
restocking the first aid kit, etc. After a couple of hours, I talked to one of
the managers since I had not been assigned any regular position. He said
somehow I had lost my proficiency for working in the Boneyard. He did not know
why but would check it out the following week. He asked me if I wanted to leave
early, I said yes, and left. The following week I emailed my boss Guest
Experience Manager - Attractions asking if my proficiency had been restored.
He said it had so I can look forward to more days of work.
Week 26 06/16/19 Mon June 17 6.17 hours total for 2019 35.85 hours I was not scheduled to work this week, but
vas able to pick up a shift from another cast member on our Facebook group. I
posted asking for Sat, Sun, or Mon. Monday worked out but the cast member
trying to give me Sun could not get management permission. Cast members of the
College Program (CP) need supervisors permission to give away a shift. It was
a standard work Florida work day. I started at 10AM, at 3PM the rains came, and
I was finished at 4PM. A lot of guests were from England today and many from
Canada. In taking to a guest from Brazil, I mention I have been to Brazil about
12 years ago when the Brazilian dollar, the Real, was worth about $0.50. He
indicated the Dollar is up and the Real is down to only $0.22.
It seems at D there are 3
types of cast members, full time, part time, and seasonal (also called casual
temporary (CT)). If you decide something like this would be fun for you, go to http://wdw.disneycareers.com and apply
for a seasonal position. You can also call the Walt Disney World Job line at
1-407-828-1000. As you go through the
application, please remember that Dave Flynn DAK 448044 is the cast member who
recruited you. Also, as you can read in my 2008 story, things change; seasonal
does not mean a season, 6 to 8 weeks is not always 6 to 8 weeks, full
availability does not mean 5 days, the hiring procedure this week is not the
same as last week, the jobs available this week are not the same as last week,
my hiring experience will not be the same as yours, etc. My job category is
Operations (was Attractions) and it took me months from the time I first went
to casting until a position opened up (Dave
in Disney 2008). I accepted the position before I knew what it was - again
read about my application process in my 2008 story. Also remember, Dave Flynn
DAK 448044 recruited you.