Best Vs. Worst Job To Have????

[snappy]

Ok, I'm trying to get this Lounge started with some interesting topics. Help!

What do you think from your experience is the Best and Worst Jobs to have at Disneyland or California Adventure????

[Mouseketeer]

well that all depends on what you mean by best or worst job...

best job as in the most rewarding experiences....this would probably be the characters when when a child comes up to his/her favorite disney character and making that child's day...at the same time this could be one of the worst jobs during the summer when the mercury gets close to 100 degrees...

as for me, as an attraction's ride operator its fun working inside the park and soaking up atmosphere while at the same time just pushing buttons, which for the most part is cake...

[snappy]

I enjoyed working ODV and meeting new guest everyday. I personally enjoyed meeting new people! Also working ODV I hardly worked in the same area back to back. Always something different and fun, yes fun.. I don't think I could do custodial 3rd shift. Those are some crazy hours but they do a great job.

[dramaqueen]

I L-O-V-E-D Day Custodial!!! When I was cast in that department, at first I was bummed, but I would never have picked another department (ok, maybe characters, but I chickened out for the auditions and I was just short enough to be Mickey I got so much guest interaction and got so much positive feedback ("I love coming here, it is so clean!" "Why thank you, it's all me and my little dustpan!") You get to really make a difference as far as providing magic for guests. I loved being in a different land every day and your job always changes. Plus the joke about janitors going wherever they want is so true. I went EVERYWHERE in the park, places that I know hourly CM's are not allowed to go (one night consisted of playing in the ballroom pf the Haunted Mansion, then going on the roof of NOS and climbing around Adventureland and sneaking in Club 33 after it closed, we were in the park till 3 am!) There is nothing like runnning a closing shift and seeing everything totally clean and empty- I used to love walking through the castle around 1 am when I was the only person around and seeinging everything all beautiful and lit up and empty <Sigh> It could be aggrivating and the rest of the CM's treat you like crap, but I know the park like the back of my hand (on and back stage) and I know I got to see stuff that people only hear about and tell runours about.

[Morrigoon]

I'm surprised to hear that... I would think most people would recognize that sweepers have one of the better jobs guest-interaction wise. Unlike us poor slobs in attractions, you guys never had to disappoint a kid, or argue with their parents about the meaning of a 46" height limit.

Sure, there's the not-so-occasional code-v or (eep) code-h, but hey, it's nothing I didn't see as a busser (yes, even the code-h and code-u), and bussers don't get to run all over the park.

[mistyisjafo]

Worst Job - Guest (commonly known as PEST) Control during parades/fireworks! People are always pissy and rude.

Second Worst - First day opening of a ride & standing at the very end of the line to tell each and every person that YES, there is a 4 (6,8) hour wait.
Did that with Star Tours. Talk about two days of sheer hell. People were so made when the line got up to a 6 hour wait. I didn't dare say that I had already riden it a dozen times already before the grand opening. After that I went back to the P-lot and kissed the nasty aspault since I was so happy to be back.

[dramaqueen]

Ah, yes, the dreaded code v's. The bane of my sweeper existance. One night I was working Indy- meaning I was basically in the ride the entire shift- sweeping and picking the queue, emptying the trash cans (all 30 of them) and performing basic maintainence, checking the bathroom, etc. On that shift they give you a walkie talkie since you won't see anyone else down there. I overheard a call to me and couldn't quite believe it- I had to ask that it be repeated. Three code V's in the Indy queue. Some guest had let their kid throw up 3 times. I got to the first one which was just inside the cave portion of the queue and had to listen to guests every three seconds "someone threw up back there" and "ewww!" Not that gross, just annoying (yes I know it is my job to clean up the human waste, yes it is a little degrading, yes I wish that kid had gotten out of line a little sooner)

Then there was the "exploding trashcan" in the small world queue. If a trash can is full, instead of looking for another one that isn't (and full trashcans don't happen that often, thay are emptyed about every 30 minutes) they simply pile the garbage on or around a can. I found one can that had trash everywhere around it and another one 5 feet away from it that was literally empty. So yes, you do encounter guests in their dumbest moments, on vacation especially. I always said Harvard could have a class reunion at the park and everyone would still act like morons. But I still think it was the best job- I am glad I got to watch "Believe" every night before they cracked down on pollution (best places to watch, besides NOS, By King Arthur's Carousel, Small World Pavillion, Rooftop queue of Space mountain

[Disneyphile]

Best - parade/show crew (my dream job that was never attained there - preferably DEP or Fantasmic!)

Worst - crowd control during Spectromagic ("Yes. Your kid REALLY does need to get down from the tree.") and working in the Emporium during the live Christmas Day Parade ("Why's the parade going so slow? I can hardly hear the sound! Why's it so crowded??")

[bjvb15]

Any food ops job

I think any food ops position (if you hired in after 11/1/04) is the worst job. You get almost half the holidays, no vacation, and surely no hours (until your senority goes up)

The best job could be up for grabs. I think it's all up to the cast member that is working a position certain position. For instance, most merchandise CMs hate Emporium or Candy Palace, but my mom loves them to death.

[snappy]

After reading about Custodial I think that would be one of the coolest jobs at Disneyland. Being able to see things we regular CM don't get to see sounds great. If you took a small digital camera and took pictures would you get totally busted? I'm sure you would. Working Indy all by yourself might be a little scary, but cool. Everyone's stories are really cool. Wish I had one to share.

[Ed Poe]

I always enjoyed the construction side of working DLR. The planning, building and opening of DCA were some of the best times I ever had at work. I would have done it for free. Unfortunately when the projects were complete and we went back into maintenance mode is when I decided to part due to lack of activity.

Third shift really wears on you especially when you really don't have much to do. (Blue Card)

Funny thing about it now, I really miss the solitude of 3rd shift. Roaming around going anywhere I wanted and I really did. To this day I don't think there's an inch in the resort I haven't seen.

Strange how you can love and hate something so much at the same time

[dramaqueen]

You would only get busted if you got caught My supervisor took pics of himself sitting on Walt Disney's toilet inside his apartment, and he also told us he snuck into Club 33 during the press party when they reopened Tarzan's Treehouse. There all kinds of things you can do around the park...... (there was talk for a while about a day custodial pin up calendar "Disneyland gets dirty" and taking the picks backstage, lol)

[mickeyslittlehelper]

Now I want to become a custodian!

Took pics of himself sitting on Walt Disney's toilet inside his apartment. There was talk for a while about a day custodial pin up calendar "Disneyland gets dirty" and taking the picks backstage, lol)

Thats too funny!

[mrmainstreet]

Yeah, I was briefly a custodian at Disney-MGM Studios in WDW. There we were called 'Showkeepers' and code-v's were affectionally refered, I'm not making this up, 'protein spills', which would be cleaned up with 'pixie dust' (charcoal and sawdust).

As for merchandise, working Candy Palace is pretty awful. For best job, my current favorite is editing out the bad photo's on Splash Mountain

[haiderodes]

i hated qsf&b in the magic kindgom...the job was cake but the people sucked big time. i found my home in the parking lot tho...great times, thats why i keep going back!

[SoSirius]

I was just talking to someone about this today. I worked Merchandising East... non of which I categorize as best. So, I'm guessing the best job would be to play one of the princesses. The worst, maybe crowd control at the entrance to Adventureland when both Fantasmic and a parade and/or the fireworks are ending - YIKES!