The Good, the Bad & the Ugly.
After the basics of training were finished - it was time to actually get to Main Street and train! Learning the lay of the land and learning about how the Confectionary worked, embroidering Mickey ears and selling jewelry at Uptown Jewelers was so much fun. This location was everything I wanted and more. Getting to sew someone's first pair of Mickey Ears... or sell someone their first ever specialty Mickey apple at the Confectionary... It was a dream come true. I'm going to break down... the good, the bad & the ugly in this blog post. Because while I had requested Main Street - I also discovered that that ended up being one of the worst decisions. I'm not sure if I would have changed it - because the people I met and the friends I made on Main Street are some of the best ever. BUT... in terms of my experience WORKING at Disney ... I would have wanted to be someplace else upon further investigating.
The GOOD:
There is a lot of good. I met one of my absolute best friends on Main Street East. Ali. She brightened my day no matter how horrible of a mood I was in - she embodied the magic of Disney. She is amazing. SHE is the reason I am glad I chose Main Street East. I also had a few really great managers. Chris comes to mind as the best. He genuinely cared about his cast members and that shone through. Everyone who was great - they know who they are. And I'm sure they all know who wasn't great, too. I would never name names because things are so different there now anyway... But the great people that I worked with made things great. I loved working in the Cinema... talking about artwork and coloring with kids who wanted to come in and sit infront of the screen to watch cartoons for a little bit to cool off from the heat. I loved selling Pandora charms and Alex & Ani bracelets to girls who were so excited to find out that we had the SILVER Castle bangle in stock! (Oh my!) I loved selling and embroidering Mickey Ears. There was something magical about that job. And lastly... I loved working late enough to see Wishes every single night. Standing out at the train carts and seeing the New Years Eve fireworks at midnight was one of the highlights of my time on Main Street. I was so happy when I pulled that spot just in time for the fireworks.
The BAD & the UGLY:
Okay. I'm going to say it. Part of working at Disney sucks. Big time. You get paid practically nothing - yet you LIVE in one of the most expensive theme parks in the world with unlimited access to all the parks. They know that you will go all the time. You end of giving almost all of your paycheck right back to them. Food, water, pins (because who doesn't love pin trading?), cool new Disney merch... You want it all. Of course you do! You came down to live there and work there... You have to love Disney to want to do that. So... the money aspect of this job sucks. Go into this knowing that. Secondly, you will not always get put with the best management. We had some really crappy managers when I worked there. You would dread going into work that day because you knew who was closing. Hopefully you were working with some friends who would make it better - but now always. Sometimes my morale got so down... I wanted to quit. I would call in when I shouldn't have, sometimes after I had already driven to Magic Kingdom for work that day. Keep your head up - some days suck, but in the end... it's a great experience.
I hope that was all honest and helpful. Basically... this was the best experience that I will never do again. I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I didn't quit. I'm glad I was where I was because of who I met. I'm happy that I took a leap of faith... but I'm also happy I don't work there anymore.
Until next time...
The GOOD:
There is a lot of good. I met one of my absolute best friends on Main Street East. Ali. She brightened my day no matter how horrible of a mood I was in - she embodied the magic of Disney. She is amazing. SHE is the reason I am glad I chose Main Street East. I also had a few really great managers. Chris comes to mind as the best. He genuinely cared about his cast members and that shone through. Everyone who was great - they know who they are. And I'm sure they all know who wasn't great, too. I would never name names because things are so different there now anyway... But the great people that I worked with made things great. I loved working in the Cinema... talking about artwork and coloring with kids who wanted to come in and sit infront of the screen to watch cartoons for a little bit to cool off from the heat. I loved selling Pandora charms and Alex & Ani bracelets to girls who were so excited to find out that we had the SILVER Castle bangle in stock! (Oh my!) I loved selling and embroidering Mickey Ears. There was something magical about that job. And lastly... I loved working late enough to see Wishes every single night. Standing out at the train carts and seeing the New Years Eve fireworks at midnight was one of the highlights of my time on Main Street. I was so happy when I pulled that spot just in time for the fireworks.
The BAD & the UGLY:
Okay. I'm going to say it. Part of working at Disney sucks. Big time. You get paid practically nothing - yet you LIVE in one of the most expensive theme parks in the world with unlimited access to all the parks. They know that you will go all the time. You end of giving almost all of your paycheck right back to them. Food, water, pins (because who doesn't love pin trading?), cool new Disney merch... You want it all. Of course you do! You came down to live there and work there... You have to love Disney to want to do that. So... the money aspect of this job sucks. Go into this knowing that. Secondly, you will not always get put with the best management. We had some really crappy managers when I worked there. You would dread going into work that day because you knew who was closing. Hopefully you were working with some friends who would make it better - but now always. Sometimes my morale got so down... I wanted to quit. I would call in when I shouldn't have, sometimes after I had already driven to Magic Kingdom for work that day. Keep your head up - some days suck, but in the end... it's a great experience.
I hope that was all honest and helpful. Basically... this was the best experience that I will never do again. I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I didn't quit. I'm glad I was where I was because of who I met. I'm happy that I took a leap of faith... but I'm also happy I don't work there anymore.
Until next time...
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