Happiest Place on Earth?

[HauntedGabe]

I make jack squat these days. But, I have a fantastic boss and co-worker, hit the road while most everyone else is still sleeping in the morning, never work on the weekend, and am home to greet my awesome son and beautiful wife when they get home from school and work respectively.

$20k more, and four weeks vacation every year can't buy me that kind of happiness.

And so many people who bring children into the world miss that concept.

My DH changed jobs for that reason when my eldest was 8 months old on the condition he wouldn't work weekends.

I did a total 180 from a job that I loved but had me on call and traveling 24/7. I walked away from my career when my second was one and my eldest was already in school. I turned a hobby into a small business where I could create my own schedule around my children. I never looked back, I made breakfast, packed lunches and was able to meet the school bus when they came home. Blessed.

[HauntedGabe]

I'm sorry you feel that way. And I guess I'll be an embarrassment, because I'll still be working for Disney at 46

You go woman, live that dream!

[i-neighborhood]

At the end of the day no body does it like Disney and that includes the hard work put in by the Cast Members, seen and unseen, to make all this happen every single day.

We recently went to Lego Land, and while my child loved it, it lacked luster for me and there was some things I observed you would just never see at Disney, such as work and maintenance areas (unkempt at that) and some other practices that raised my eyebrow that wouldn't happen at Disney, but then I guess they are still trying to find their groove at Lego Land. I wish Disney was in Tampa, we would probably be there every day, but several times a month ain't bad. When we left Lego Land, I couldn't wait to get to Disney.

Anyways, thank you Disney Cast Members, because it is you guys and girls that are the lifeblood that really make it happen, not to take away from the Imagineers.

Even though I'm forty something, I've always dreamed of driving the Monorail, and if I lived closer to Orlando, I would sure apply for a part time job just to do that. Hey, that's the magic of Disney, age doesn't matter.

Not that its related to this post, but I have the entire monorail loop of the recently retired Monorail spiel, and whenever we go to Disney, I set my phone tones to the various sounds and voices of the monorail.

Indeed, what a job many CMs have to deal with rude and obnoxious people, I'm sure many times CMs just want to give them the "what for".

But I will back in a few weeks looking forward to the end of the night ice cream on Main Street before the drive home.

How about the CMs over at the Jungle Cruise.

[Mo Noyz]

And so many people who bring children into the world miss that concept.

My DH changed jobs for that reason when my eldest was 8 months old on the condition he wouldn't work weekends.

I did a total 180 from a job that I loved but had me on call and traveling 24/7. I walked away from my career when my second was one and my eldest was already in school. I turned a hobby into a small business where I could create my own schedule around my children. I never looked back, I made breakfast, packed lunches and was able to meet the school bus when they came home. Blessed.

When my son was born I gave up my career in Ophthalmology to work nights in a Radiology department so that our son wouldn't be raised by daycare workers.

It was actually kind of comical as I drove a two-seater at the time. So, my wife would drive my car to work since she also worked at said hospital, then I would drive her car in with son in tow and we'd exchange car keys in the parking lot!

[mickeytoo]

Meh, I don't know that I agree with that. With this economy and the high percentage of living wage or minimum wage employment opportunities in the Orlando area I have to believe a good chunk of CMs believe their wages could be higher. Just because you know what the wage is doesn't mean everyone is happy about it. As a Mom of CM and a Stockholder of Disney, I see both sides of the coin here. I've done the math and I can't imagine if Disney was his primary job that he could have his own apartment (had enough of the roommate thing in college) buy a car, have a wife or let alone someday have children and send them to college. I believe he would have to be very careful always and save for a long time to do anything out of the ordinary.

But I do agree, he loves his role, his friends and co-workers he has made there and when he is at Disney working he is happy minus the days from heck here and there. I'd be surprised if he ever returned full time even if that is where his heart is as he knows he earns more than his trainers and supervisors who have been there forever. Will he ever completely leave? I doubt it.

Yep. That's how they "get ya'". Disney knows darn well they have most people by the short hairs just for the Kool-Aide-drinking privilege of working for them. The difference in the money I was told I would be making moving up from one managerial position to the other, with all the other added responsibilities, was beyond laughable.
Lately, and very fortunately, I have been able to get a lot of contract work from my old architectural firm, so I was able to drop back to just a regular CM position at The Store. I still have another retail job that pays me WAY more than I was making even as a MANAGER at TDS...!
I think I bailed just in time...
My manager still loves me to death (I rebuilt Plush Mountain, fixed all the t's, and vacuumed in record time for a DM visit today) and wishes I was still on her management team, but also understands now why I just can't be.

[mickeytoo]

I LOVE Disney, and that's why I'm as P****d as I am...
Walt wanted to make money for the sake of making a better product for his Guests.
TWDC now is all about making money for moneys sake.
I understand that is the way that most of corporate America has worked for a VERY long time, but the Disney Company started out different because of the dreams of one guy and now it has just gone the way of, almost, every other corporate pile of ****.

[mickeytoo]

Oh, and one more thing...
Through all 3+ years of it, I have remained as "Magical" as the day is long while "on stage".
TWDC constantly asks CM's to do MORE with LESS and then, for some reason, doesn't realize that that can be kinda' a recipe for fail city?!?!?!
And, I get that we all know what's involved goin' in, but when things devolve below that even after, what the heck are we supposed to think is next?
And, if I hear from some corporate suit on video that I'm forced to watch again about how we can do it no matter what they throw on us because we're just "So Magical" , I'm gonna' puke up everything I've eaten over the last 5 years.

[Mo Noyz]

Stop holding back and tell us how you REALLY feel!

[Mo Noyz]

BTW, the above testimony is why I always try to talk folks down from the "I'd LOVE to work at WDW" ledge.

It's like vacationing in Florida for a week or two and then swearing you just HAVE to move there.

Hint: vacation perception is as deceptive as it comes.

[supernova]

BTW, the above testimony is why I always try to talk folks down from the "I'd LOVE to work at WDW" ledge.

It's like vacationing in Florida for a week or two and then swearing you just HAVE to move there.

Hint: vacation perception is as deceptive as it comes.

Vacationing in Florida for two weeks? If I'm going to spend two weeks of my life on vacation, it is not going to be within the continental United States. And I'd better be hitting more than one country.

[Mo Noyz]

Some of us actually vacation at a slower pace so that we can relax.

[ohiodisneydad]

We usually do two weeks. One week at the beach and one at Disney.

After a week at WDW, I feel like I've been to different countries after walking through World Showcase & getting plowed over by rude foreign guests. My calmer and better half often reminds me that I'm not at work and she tries to temper my annoyance over stupidity we encounter there. I often slip into work mode and my verbal judo skills come out to play.

[Mo Noyz]

It's easy and relatively inexpensive for us to stay there for two weeks because of all the friends and family we have there. Usually spend close to a week in WDW, but the rest of the time we're traveling around catching up with everyone.

[HauntedGabe]

And until recent years we spent on average 14-16 days in WDW. We didn't read newspapers, I didn't pay $10 a day for internet and never watched the news except the one time we were down there during Hugo. We took things at a slower pace, rode bikes, went to water parks. We were not rope drop people but we could all stay up late. Back then the only time it was dark when I woke up was for early opening of AK the month it opened. It was a great place for us to focus on family for 2 weeks and I loved almost every minute of it. Packing for 2 weeks for a family of 4 for 2 weeks, not so much fun.

[Mo Noyz]

Oy...packing.

This was the first time we flew down, so we were limited as to how much luggage we could bring, unlike when we drove and simply threw whatever we wanted to in the SUV.

To make matters worse, the weather was forecasted (and it delivered) as a rollercoaster anywhere from the high 30's to the low 80's while we were there. So we had to pack a wide array of clothing. Needless to say, we used a lot of friends and family washing machines while we were there.