Part Two: Living, Learning, Ears and Earning
Wednesday, May 7, 2003
by Shoshana
Lewin, MousePlanet staff writer
While it's difficult to squeeze three months of the best summer
of my life into four articles, I'm going to try. Although
my story is one of hundreds, I don't think anyone has had
an experience quite like it. So close your eyes as we go back
in time to the year of The New Tomorrowland: The Summer of
1998. — Shoshana
I didn't realize it at the time, but being accepted into the Disneyland
College Program (DLCP) (see College With the Mouse Part One)
was only part of the process.
I was very excited when I received an immensely helpful information packet
about the college program. This became my bible in the days leading up
to my orientation. So before I continue with my story, I'll give you the
breakdown on the components of the DLCP.
The Earning
We would be considered seasonal employees and were guaranteed a minimum
of 30 hours per week. Our base pay was $5.75 an hour, and our rent would
be deducted from our salary (although you did have the option to find
your own housing, which I beleive is the only option for DLCP participants
today.) In addition, several positions are tied into a union, so our dues
would also be deducted. We would be taking home $40-$60 each week.
Plus, scheduling would be determined by seniority — which means
different things in different departments (for example, cast members at
the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor with seniority want to work evenings
when it is cooler and less people tend to come in).
As an attractions hostess, I learned that some of my responsibilities
would include: greeting guests, giving lengthy narrations to large groups,
loading and unloading guests, operating sophisticated ride systems, and guest
control. Also, providing for the safety of guests and light cleaning. Most of
these tasks I was used to as they were a part of my job at The Disney
Store. But I still had no idea which attraction I would be working. Sophisticated
ride systems could be anything from pushing a button to driving a train.
We would be eligible to discounts on tickets and merchandise, including
going to Company D-the employee store; could get into the park (except
July 4th); participate in Cast Activities; and have access to Partners
Federal Credit Union.
The Living
Disney selected Oakwood apartments in Newport Beach as our housing for
the summer. It wasn't too far from the 55, and was within walking distance
of a Blockbuster, a Ralphs grocery store, a Starbucks and—best of
all—a nail salon (which came in very handy when I needed to fix French
manicure to maintain that Disney look). I would be living with as many
as three other people in a two-bedroom furnished apartment. We would be
required to take care of our own transportation (a car was highly recommended),
but there was carpooling available and the bus had a stop across the street
from our apartment complex.
The Learning
DLCP members would be able to participate in the Road to Leadership Program.
Those interested would need to apply and would have the opportunity to
learn more about the managerial positions through the resort. I had thought
this program was only for those who were not in their first year of the
DLCP — apparently that wasn't totally correct. Those who had been
in the DLCP before were required to participate; others had the option.
Because I thought it would be too much to juggle with my work responsibilities,
I opted not to do it. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. I wish I could go back in time
and change my mind, but, Hakuna Matata! I did end up being able to shadow
a manager (more on that in Part Three). There were also several Career
Development Workshops we could attend, which included Job Search Strategies,
Resume Preparation, the Professional Image and Interviewing Techniques.
The Ears
This part requires jumping ahead a little. After-hours and during our
days off, the people behind the DLCP arranged a lot of activities for
us to enjoy and we had our own newsletter called The Mouse's Ear.
Among the adventures: tickets to The Price Is Right (two of our
members were asked to “come on down”) and The Tonight Show;
Anaheim Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games; trips to Universal
Studios (organized by yours truly) and Magic Mountain; and a chance to
be in the audience of one of the first tapings of Whose Line Is It
Anyway? (which is so much fun, if you ever have the opportunity);
and had a BBQ beach party.
All of the theme park and game tickets were purchased at a discount
through the Disney Team Center. The one I went to was located backstage
at Disneyland on top of the Bank of Main Street. We also all had a chance
to see Mulan at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.
OK, back to our story. After finishing my sophomore year at the University
of Missouri, I packed up two very large suitcases, a carry-on that would
have easily concealed a small child, a phone, and my TV (because at the
time I was addicted to All My Children and couldn't bear to miss
a day).
I flew 1,750 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles and stayed with my grandparents
in Agoura Hills, about 60 miles from Anaheim, for a few days before the
program began. If you do plan to be in a college program, having family
nearby is a huge benefit. Not only was I able to do my laundry
for free, but they were nice enough to loan me my grandfather's car a
week into the program when I realized the bus just wasn't going to work
out.
My grandparents drove me down to Newport Beach for my orientation at
Oakwood. We had breakfast first at the Coco's next door. Well, they
had breakfast. I was so nervous I couldn't eat anything and was barely
able to take a few sips of orange juice.
We ended up driving around several times because for some reason we kept
missing the entrance to Oakwood. For those of you who have never been
to an Oakwood complex, it is very gated and there is usually only
one public entrance — somewhere.
We eventually found it, parked, went in and followed the signs to the
downstairs clubhouse, which was connected to the pools and Jacuzzi, which
was right next to the tennis courts. I noticed a female about my age who
also had what looked to be her grandparents with her. The puzzled expression
on her face and pile of papers in her hand tipped me off that she was
probably going to be in the college program, too. Her name was Haley,
and she told me would be staying with her grandparents in Fullerton —
although she ended up staying in our apartment a couple of times because
she became really good friends with one of my roommates.
Over the next 30 minutes, the rest of those in Group One—and a great
deal of relatives—arrived. We would meet Group Two at a BBQ a month
later. All together their were nearly 50 participants in Group One.
We met Jayna (College Relations Coordinator), Wendy (College Relations
Representative) and Robin (Wendy's assistant), who would be in charge
of the program that summer. They ran through some of the information from
the packet and answered questions from parents — you could match
each participant to each parent when the child would start scrunching
down in his or her seat or covering his or her face. We received our housing
assignments and were told that once we moved in, all parents would need
to leave by 5 p.m., when we would be meeting again in the clubhouse.
I met my roommates Katie, who had been assigned to a position in outdoor
vending, and Suzanne, who would be working in food service. Since Suzanne
and I were in the apartment first, we ended up sharing a room, while Katie
got the single bedroom.
After we settled in, made a list of things we would have to buy that
night at the grocery store, realized that we had a phone without a phone
line, and said goodbye to our families, we headed back to the clubhouse.
We were told that the next day we would be having our Disneyland orientation,
which would include what it is to be a cast member, information on the
company, a safety talk, lunch and a visit to an attraction. I kept coughing
“Space Mountain” under my breath (hey, it had been a while since
I'd been on it). We would need to be at the Team Disney building —
the big yellow and green one off the 5 by 8 a.m.
in professional dress with our driver's licenses or other documentation.
I won't get into too much detail about the Orientation, because other
Cast Place articles have covered that, but I will tell you what happened
that might have been unique to the DLCP.
Our session was just for the 50 of us, so we had the entire auditorium
to ourselves. Once we received our official Cast Member name tags (I was
very excited that they were able to fit my entire name on a tag) and watched
some introductory videos (one of which looked like an edited-down version
of a Disneyland special hosted by Harry Anderson for the park's 35th anniversary),
we were told we would be going into the park, and when we returned we
would be given our work assignments. They divided us into two groups and
once we left the building, we immediately had a very Disney experience.
Our hostess asked one of our group members who was his favorite character.
He said he always liked the chipmunks - so of course, in true Disney fashion,
who should come around the corner from behind the door leading to Toontown
but Chip and Dale. It was so cute I felt like crying. We had a short tour
of a few areas of the park, ate lunch at the Village Haus in Fantasyland
and took a ride on Star Tours (so no, didn't get my trip on Space Mountain).
We returned to the auditorium and the room was full of “adults”
from around the park and administration building. As we came into the
room they saw our tags, pulled us over and gave us our assignments. One
of the women called me over, introduced herself and asked, “How tall
are you?” I told her I was 5-foot-2 (on a good day). She said, “Oh,
then we might have to switch you and Shannon.” It turns out I had
been assigned to drive the Submarines, but because of my height, they
were afraid I wouldn't be able to see out of the porthole.
They asked Shannon, who was standing next to me, if she would be OK with
driving the subs (she was at least three inches taller than I was). She
said that was great, and how she always wanted to do that. So they took
Shannon's schedule and crossed her name off and handed it to me. I picked
it up and read the top line: Fantasyland Classics.
I would be working in one of my favorite places in the park!
For the second time that day I felt like crying — it was the first
time in my life I was glad to be short.
We all ended the day at the park, through a special arrangement courtesy
of College Relations and I enjoyed a ride on Indiana Jones with my new
friends.
The next day I would begin my attractions training, I'd always wanted
to work in the park, but could I hack it in Fantasyland? You'll have to
read Part Three to find out.
|
MousePlanet staff writer and former park and Disney
Store cast member — and College Program alumna — Shoshana
Lewin expands her areas of coverage with the start a new multi-part
series for Cast Place.
For more information on opportunities in the current
college program, visit the Disney
College Program Web site.
Are you a CM or a former CM? I would love to hear and share your stories! E-mail me! Stories and comments you submit become property of and may be published on this site; we normally don't publish last names of current CMs, but if you wish to remain anonymous altogether or do not want me to share your stories, please let me know when you e-mail me. — Shoshana NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in reader-contributed stories do not reflect those of Cast Place or MousePlanet. CM – Cast member; company lingo for “employee.” Empowerment Evolution – The 1995 attempt by newer park management to introduce modern accountability and market forces into the stodgy Disneyland methodology and power hierarchies. The name was meant to “empower” rank and file employees by removing layers of their management, though now there are more managers than ever. TPO – Theme Park Operations; the division of the Disneyland hierarchy that actually works in the theme park itself. TDA – Team Disney Anaheim; the name of the on-site administration building. Area manager – used to be responsible for an entire land, with all business divisions in the area reporting to him. Area supervisor – the immediate boss for location supervisors who divide up a department of intelligently grouped locations. The area supervisors in turn reported to the area manager. Nowadays all supervisors and area supervisors have been replaced by managers and assistant managers — the same idea, but smaller “business units" than a department; usually just one location in fact. RFT – “A” status; a full-time hourly employee. RPT – “B” status; an hourly employee five days a week but just not quite 40 hours usually. CR – “C” status; an hourly employee who works weekends year-round and five days a week during all school holiday periods (including summer and Christmas break). CT – a part-time hourly employee who works five days a week during all school holiday periods (including summer and Christmas break). No seniority, so shifts worked are usually quite short. Locate the employment center to fill out an application, and they will call you for an interview (dress nicely, just shy of an actual suit). Once there, follow these rules, in this order of importance: 1. Smile and be very friendly. They want outgoing people.
2. Do not let the group interview throw you off balance. They want outgoing people who can “perform” a little bit.
3. Do not worry about job (in)experience. They don't care. They want friendly people, not experienced and/or hardened people.
4. Do your best to convince them you already have a Disney attitude: you want to work with people, you're a team player, and you would consider this a dream job (however, don't overdo it on the crazy-Disney-fan side either). Strike a nice balance.
5. Did I mention the importance of a smile? 
|
