Working at Disneyland

The Mouse is currently hiring folks like it’s going out of style, so this might be the time to land your dream job at Disneyland! But before you sign the required waivers and long-term contract, InsidEar wants you to read 20 things you should know about working at the Disneyland Resort.

1. They pay you in Disney Dollars.
2. They still use the 1955 wage scale.
3. Daily park admission is deducted from your pay.
4. Uniforms are called costumes, and you are responsible for maintaining and cleaning your costume, including the official underwear (until recently, “Eisnerwear”).
5. If you are hired as a “head character” (a costumed character with a mask), the upside is that Disney will maintain your costume, but the downside is that you are not allowed to talk. To anyone. Ever. Even on the phone.
6. Disney is so desperate to hire that they no longer pass on an applicant simply on the basis of a hideous appearance. In an unrelated bit of news, custodians and food preparation workers are now “head” characters.
7. Shortest shift: Tinkerbell with her 23-second fireworks performance.
8. Longest shift: Any of the "Audioanimatronic" character's.
9. Employee's discount applies only to leftover food, defective merchandise, souvenirs with a previous year printed on them, and unclaimed stuff in Lost and Found.
10. Employees walk the tracks of all thrill rides at least three times a day picking up trash, and this must be done with care because the cost of stopping a ride to clean it is prohibitive.
11. If you call a guest a “customer” you get slapped in the face.
12. If you don’t know who “Uncle Walt” is, you get assigned to Main Street horse-drawn-carriage shovel duty until someone else makes that mistake.
13. The "Redhead" is not available for private parties (although she was once launched from a cake for an Imagineer’s bachelor party, but that’s a long story).
14. Despite anti-discrimination laws, all Disney princesses are played by women, except for Mulan who is a man on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and alternate Sundays.
15. Be sure to request a specific assignment within the park so that management will have something concrete to deny.
16. Full-time employees are eligible for benefits (shift of 168 hours / week or less is considered part-time).
17. Benefits for full-time employees include half-price weekday park admission, a free collectable pin and lanyard, two churros a week, “Goofy’s Dental Plan,” and unpaid overtime.
18. Asking for time off during the holiday season is one of Disney’s “seven deadly sins” (namely “sloth”). The other sins are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Dopy, Bashful, and Sleepy.
19. Wearing "Golden Mouse Ears" to your job interview will get you laughed at (albeit respectfully).
20. When you see your first tiny, little paycheck, remember the official employee slogan, “You can’t put a price tag on dreams!”

Cast members, click on the comment link below and add your own helpful hints.