Disney Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Disney as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – Financially solid, some good benefits

Cons – Low salary, work to death. work environment is less than desirable

Advice to Senior Management – Get more people or expect less. Can't get water from a rock.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Disney full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – great perks, great discounts, easy access to the parks.

Cons – low salary, not enough hours, not able to advance quick without being a college program student

Advice to Senior Management – Allow the cast member to move ahead to see if this is the right step. If it is not the cast member wil gladly step down and go back to the old position.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Disney part-time for more than a year

Pros – The perks are spectacular - free access to parks, discounts on merchandise and food, and tickets for your friends and family.

The co-workers are interesting- I was a lifeguard working summers part-time to give myself some spending money for college. The kids I encountered who were in the International College Program were literally from all over the world and it was really cool to get to know them and learn about where they come from.

The guests- while some guests were a pain to deal with, by and large you're surrounded by people who are having a good time and are friendly. Occasionally I would run into someone who would give me career advice (I'm in school for engineering) and talk to me about their experiences in industry. It was a lot of fun to interact with the happy guests.

Cons – Management- as a lifeguard I had SIX different managers to report to. It was very VERY hard to get anything done because communication broke down constantly, and requests to be cross trained in other areas or to do ANYTHING other than maintain the status-quo were nearly always forgotten or denied. On one occasion, I traded a shift with another lifeguard (a perfectly acceptable thing if you get manager approval) and the manager who approved the change forgot to tell anyone - I received a reprimand for a no-call-no-show, even though it had been approved, and when I asked the manager to fix it, he said "don't worry about it, it'll fall off your record by next year." Not cool.

Ultimately, my employment was terminated because of a policy change which occurred while I was at school and which NONE of my SIX managers bothered to tell me about via a phone call, or email. I still have my badge and my uniform because I had to call Disney to find out I didn't work there anymore. That is completely unprofessional, in my opinion.

The culture also rubbed me the wrong way. I was treated with very little respect, and as though I was always trying to get away with something. Supervisors spy on you from the bushes (and not necessarily for lifeguard auditing purposes). There seemed to be no (or at least, a seldom used) system in place for rewarding good behavior, only for punishing bad behavior. I was talked down to, as though I were a 13 year-old trying to get away with something, rather than an aspiring aerospace engineer in college.

Finally, while I understand the need to appear happy in front of guests, it was almost as if many employees were two-faced. Employees would smile as they walked past you and scowl as they walked back stage. Managers were unapproachable and seemed to work to make themselves more intimidating.

Advice to Senior Management – I sensed a strong disconnect between management and staff. Make yourselves more approachable, challenge your employees with new ideas instead of changing small things for no reason, or maintaining the status-quo. LISTEN to your employees and be open-minded- if a request is unreasonable, explain why - don't just pretend it never happened. COMMUNICATE effectively and be mindful of how information is being relayed to your employees. BE AVAILABLE for questions, and above all - treat your staff with some RESPECT. If you can pull off half of these leadership changes, I'd wager you will see a noticeable change in cast member morale.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Disney full-time for more than a year

Pros – Free park passes and discounts on vacation club locations

Cons – No work family life balance. Too much of a sweat shop environment. Low wages and long hours. They cater to the retirees or college program kids that will work for nothing, or they recruit from other countries that want to experience the American dream.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop protecting the college program students and start listening to the older educated employees that come in with lots of experience. Stop taking the college program students words as gospel because they are young and very very immature. They show up for work on hangovers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Disney full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – A wide range of transactions and business segments
Work and life balance

Cons – Career advancement/change within the company is mostly political and relationship based, not performance driven
HR department creates more barriers to attract good talents, than helping to attract talents
Inefficiencies of the company due to politics and processes lead to unmotivated workers
Not the best compensation for employees but great compensation for the executives

Advice to Senior Management – Develop a flat org structure to promote competitiveness and become efficient
Need more competitive HR staff
Promote internal mobility to all levels

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Disney full-time for less than a year

Pros – Work load is manageable and the workplace is generally stress-free. The culture encourages co-workers to be friendly and personable. If you enjoy the parks, then the unlimited pass is a very nice benefit.

Cons – Coworkers seemed to fall into two groups of Disney experience: 3 years or less with the company or 10+ years. My interpretation of this dichotomy is that (1) young professionals become frustrated with the corporate bureaucracy and many antiquated business practices (and leave) and (2) since Disney is one of the few private companies that still offers a pension, the "lifers" cling to their position (and protect it) until retirement. De facto, it appears that Disney prefers very loyal employees over very apt employees.

Advice to Senior Management – An upgrade in the technical skill set of your staff will allow you to operate at the same level for a fraction of the labor costs.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Disney part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – You free tickets to Disney

Cons – They pay horribly and overworked

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on developing your people. Don't discriminate on age (like I was). Look at performance and pay accordingly

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Disney full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Brand of Disney resonates with a lot of potential employers.

Cons – -Very political
-Chaotic
-Lack of transparency
-No support or room for growth and development
-People get promoted because of connections, not because of merit

Advice to Senior Management – -Be more transparent
-Hire better talent
-Develop employees more

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Disney as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – - learned a lot about how traditional media companies are attempting to be relevant online
- was able to play a key role in managing creative resources and leading a few initiatives
- given opportunities to take on more work
- social atmosphere

Cons – - extremely political
- cliquey
- trivial material (entertainment)
- Burbank

Advice to Senior Management – Well, many people are happy with the way things are, although most of those I've spoken with are overworked. It's an extremely hierarchical organization, but I don't think there's any way around this for Disney.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Disney part-time for less than a year

Pros – They finally switched my mind numbing job to costuming at the Magic Kingdom. There I was training to help open a new parade called Move it Shake it ....i forgot the rest. That was fun! I also loved staying at Vista Way because there were always events going on as well as fun activities they would organize for us college interns. Also, the Disney buses can take you to fun bars and restaurants and you never have to drive!

Cons – Minimum wage is less in Florida than in California. I absolutely despised the job they first placed me in because I was supposed to work in costuming. Instead, they placed me in the building where all the cast members bring their sweaty clothing for us to take care of. I would then spend at least 5-6 hours straight putting clean cast member costumes away allllllll dayyyyyy loooooong. I wouldnt have been so upset if I was a high school graduate who needed any job.......but I was getting my college degree then and knew I needed to be challenged ten times more than just putting clothing away in their rightful place. Also, they are very very strict on dress code......even though no one could see us because we worked behind the scenes of the Magic Kingdom. If i recall correctly, you may only get three or four reprimands....and then you are terminated. I had received two reprimands. One was because my makeup didnt look "natural" enough because I was wearing red lipstck. The second time was because my eyebrows did not match my blonde hair. i was forced to dye my eyebrows blonde which made me look even less "natural". When I grew my eyebrows out to their natural brown color, I decided to cut bangs so they could be covered....thus having no more reprimands. I am now almost done with my masters at CSUN, and applied for a professional internship with Disney. They really liked me on the phone, and I had made it to the last cut for a management internship. The reason why they called me back to tell me I wasn't considered anymore was because they looked back at Disney records and realized I had those two reprimands. If i knew these reprimands were a big deal for a future with Disney, I would have never worn red lipstick or had naturally brown eyebrows. Although Disney is a great company to work for, I had an unusual experience.

Advice to Senior Management – Do not give reprimands to cast members who do not have matching eyebrows with their hair. it is ridiculous because some of my fellow cast members also received reprimands for their naturally blonde hair not matching their naturally brown eyebrows.