What do disney world characters get paid

Today, at 30 and with a job in the video game industry, she says she looks back at her princess era with only good memories. Nothing fazes a Disney princess. The company discourages its entertainment staff to talk openly about their time working at the parks, and asks all of its Ariels, Belles, and Snow Whites never to acknowledge that they play their namesake characters.

Sotakoun and I talked about the sliding pay scale at Disney parks, the after-hours scene with the cast members, and what it was like for her, a woman with no Native American heritage, to be asked to play Pocahontas.

Basically, you graduate school, go straight to Disney. I think it was to try and get kids into the workforce. It was glorified babysitting — you watch kids climb over this giant ant — and that was a lot of fun.

At the end of the program, after three months, they held auditions for entertainment. They pulled me after the audition and told me I would be Pocahontas. Being half Asian and half white, that was a surprise. I put on the costume; they had me read a prewritten line. Oh, it feels like a hierarchy. Walking backstage in my yellow polo with khaki shorts, if Peter Pan would pass me, I would go quiet.

You feel like this is an iconic Disney character walking past you. It may be different now, but for me, the training was five days. You have to be trained and approved in fur characters first. Learning autographs. The last two days of training you go out into the park with character attendants, and meet people.

It was wild to me, I thought the training would last about a month. I was so stoked when I got through training, and then I did three weeks in a row of just Winnie the Pooh. I had no idea that there might be a woman underneath the mask of Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland. Yeah, so Mickey and Minnie, their heights are 4-foot to 5-foot-1, so Mickey and Minnie are usually women.

I have a friend who is a heterosexual cis male. He was Queen of Hearts for the first time; he did his set. I was having dads kneel and kiss my hand. So did you get a crash course in specifically Pocahontas? Or is the training more general than that? You can speak; they can see your face.

They wanted me to put my hands on my side and make a fist. What do you remember about your first day as a face character, out in the park, where the training wheels are off? Sometimes there are disagreements between the full time staff and the college program participants that are not handled well by management. CP's work hard, long hours, but I think that is it overall rewarding. Disney provides excellent learning and advancement opportunities to hourly employees, like Disney Aspire.

I would recommend anyone to work there, and would definitely consider going back if I needed a job! Pros Career advancement, training, getting to make magic, helping guests, the Make A Wish families, the healthcare, the tickets to the park, retirement benefits. Cons Full timers experience burn out, can get jealous of CP's and treat them poorly, long hours.

Was this review helpful? Yes No. The Disney Store was the best place to work. It was my happy place. We were able to engage with the guest while having so much fun! Dancing, singing, and acting out the events were the best part of the job! The benefits are amazing! The cast members were kind, helpful, and outgoing. The rotating shifts were hard at times but doable. Unfortunately, it felt like the role of my dreams could be snatched away as quickly as it was given at any moment if I became "disapproved" in my character.

In my experience, you could get "disapproved" in a number of ways, with the most well known being that you "aged out" of your character because you no longer looked like a year-old cartoon princess. The most common fear for cast members was getting called into a meeting for a "silhouette issue," meaning someone at Disney had a problem with your weight or, perhaps more accurately, how they perceived it.

It also wasn't uncommon to hear that a manager had seen photos of a character actor in Ariel's Grotto where many characters wear mermaid tails and bikini tops , turned her into casting because they felt she looked too chubby, and tried to get her "temporarily disapproved" from playing a mermaid until casting decided she looked thinner. I was "disapproved" in a number of fur characters — ones that are fully covered up, like Pluto — because of the shape of my shoulders.

I tried to keep it on the down low because it was implied to me by casting that if I "didn't look right" in something, I could just be removed from the role. That made me feel pretty awful, considering adjusting a button would have solved the issue altogether. When I started working for Disneyland in California, I was cast as my character for a temporary special event.

One of the main reasons I wanted to work at Walt Disney World instead was that my characters had multiple shifts every day. I figured this would give me a better chance at becoming full time, instead of part time or seasonal. I was wrong. After two years of working at Disney World , I was still categorized as a seasonal employee who had no benefits and sometimes worked six days a week.

I made barely more than minimum wage. Sometimes, I wouldn't be scheduled to work any hours, so I'd have to rely on other girls to give me their shifts or, worse, hope they'd call out sick.

I felt guilty, but this was my only job because if I picked up another one outside Disney , I felt like I wouldn't have a chance at becoming full time or being offered other roles. It was a Catch