"Most Magical Place on Earth"official tagline for the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World
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The Walt Disney Company has been in operation since 1923. It started as a cartoon studio and was founded by Walt and Roy Disney. Over 20 years later, in 1955 the first Disney Resort opened in Anaheim, California and they called it, Disneyland Theme Park. Since then the company has built 12 theme parks, 6 Disney resorts, across 3 continents. Walt Disney World is made up of 4 of those theme parks, Animal Kingdom(1998), Epcot(1982), Hollywood Studios(1989), and Magic Kingdom(1971), which is where my internship took place in Orlando, Florida.
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A Typical Work WeekThis is a screenshot of my schedule as posted on the HUB (Disney's cast member intranet). Schedules are posted weekly on Sunday (like 1 hour after Saturday is over if you are lucky like me). As you can see a 12:00pm-9:30pm shift was my norm and I typically had 5 of those a week. Breaks not included, that left me working about 40 hours a week with two days off. My work location did not open until 11 (Liberty Tree) and 1 (Diamond Horseshoe) which is why the earliest I was normally scheduled for was 12. I also included these dates to show that yes, I did have to work holidays, but holidays are fun when you work at Disney World.
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GREETING AND SEATING GUESTS IN RESTAUARANTS
MANAGING A SEATING CHART UTILIZING A COMPUTERIZED RESERVATION SYSTEM KEEPING AREA STOCKED INCLUDING: PLATES, FORKS, KNIVES, CUPS, GLASSES, ICE, NAPKINS, BEVERAGES |
LIGHT CLEANING, MULTI-TASKING
STANDING FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME WORKING OUTDOORS RESOLVING GUEST SITUATIONS CASH HANDLING |
Leadership SkillsI was given responsibilities that pushed me outside my comfort zone, introduced to new procedures and tasks that I had never learned before, pushed myself to gain as much knowledge as I could so that other college program cast members could look to me for guidance and direction. I was put into situations where I could make or break a guest experience and it allowed me to build confidence in my ability to handle those situations.
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Career Interests/PassionsThe question of "what do you want to be when you grow up" is now a lot less intimidating. I want to be the President of Disney World and I am going to get there through my passion for hospitality and my interest in large scale food and beverage management. I plan on pursuing a management internship after graduating with either Marriott or Disney in the hopes of obtaining a management position after that year long internship and working my way up from there.
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Invaluable ExperienceI was able to take what I had learned in RPTS and apply it to real world experience. There are few to no companies who outmatch Disney on guest experience and quality, allowing me to study tourism where it thrives. I was mentored by someone who has managed nearly every restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. He took me under his wing, showed me what he knew and challenged me to and take actions every day to set myself a part from the people around me.
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BenefitsAs a Disney Employee I was given
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Pay + Housing
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Opportunities
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