What it's REALLY like working at World of Disney // my dcp experience 

Obviously being your mum I was aware of all the ‘issues’ with WOD especially as we were out in Orlando both summers you worked for Disney. Your 1st program in 2017 was amazing and with all the hours you would never had time to pick up shifts elsewhere. However you always said that if you were lucky enough to go back in 2018 that you wanted to be more adventurous and try new locations. Had your home location been a park it may have been different but you felt confident to swap shifts to give yourself a different experience rather than just staying in one place the whole time and then directly comparing the programs. It was unfair of the WOD staff to treat you the way you did for swapping shifts. It’s not as if you left them short staffed or called out. You wanted to get the best out of the program and having the confidence to work in so many places should be commended rather than criticized. I’m proud that you were professional in ‘spilling the tea’ and overall your 2nd program was amazing but in a different way to your first one!

the TEA WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR

I currently work at WOD and if there's one thing I can say, it's that it's changed a LOT from what you experienced!! The leaders are all awesome, and they no longer care about selling that much (which has translated in more sales, duh). Now, we get grape sodas for literally just talking to guests about anything! I love woking here, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience :(

“Enjoy your shift” seems like the most corporate way of putting a positive-sounding spin on an ethically questionable thing lol. But seriously I’m sorry that so many Americans were so unwelcoming to you. Your story about not even getting a goodbye after all the American CPs getting a huge send off the week before makes me feel really bad. I’m sorry :(

I loved the way you expressed your opinion on a not great experience in the most positive and unbiased way as possible! Sorry it wasn’t a nice work environment, the part about no goodbye actually made my heart drop a little, that’s so sad 😞 love your videos! 💕

I'm glad you finally made this video and I really appreciate that you mention many times that this was YOUR experience, not everyones. I was at WOD at the same time as you and absolutely loved it BUT we're different people with different experiences. I usually go to bed really late and sleep in late when I'm at home so I loved the late shifts and would've hated morning ones. Not gonna lie I was always disappointed to "enjoy my shift" but I found as long as I was talking to guests all the time I was never bothered by leaders, and I never pushed selling anything either. Some leaders were definitely focused exclusively on profit but I found a lot of them were interested in just talking to CPs. At the beginning of my program it was mostly "tell me a guest story" or "are you with a guest" but as I spent more time there it was more "what did you do last night" or "how's your program going" which I think took a lot of the pressure off and made me more comfortable. I also never heard any rumours or negative comments about you, so I would say it was probably just those couple girls that were doing it!

This is such a well spoken video Emily! The way you talk about WOD despite how much you didn't like the location shows how classy you were about the whole thing. Amazing that you took control of swapping your shifts and made the best of your time. Many people wouldn't even attempt to do that! Creds to you girl!!

I've never clicked on a video so fast! LOL Edit: After watching, I completely understand why WOD didn't work out well for you. You aren't the type of person to say things like those rumors claimed. I always enjoy shopping or even just walking through WOD. Now that this tea has been spilled, can't wait for your vlogs!!

Really professionally handled! Good video em. Xxx

I really enjoyed this Emily. I learned a lot about what it is like to work there at Disney

You do such a great job of staying positive. I love that you were able to create what could sound like a negative and gripe-y video and not have it sound like a whine-fest. That will take you a long way in this world! Stay "you"!

You’re good at sharing your story. I feel as if I’m there. Great video👍😀

As for the send off, I’m shook you were unwelcomed! When I was there we LOVED internationals! Clearly a lot has changed! When I picked up at other locations the leaders actually encouraged us to get the full CP experience! They always encouraged us cause then we can tell those cast members to not tell guests that everything was at WOD!

Now that you've spilt the tea....you will have to find something else to talk about on your channel! Lol But seriously, I hope someone from Disney sees this and takes it as a learning experience for them. You did very well at keeping your comment neutral/professional. You didnt trash talk WOD, you simply explained your experience there. ❤❤

I wore the older WOD costume when they wasn't making renovation.... It was this burgundy green yellow shirt with khaki pants. I worked at WOD in 2013 and on the positive side I love some of the cool leaders who cares about the Cps and not at that location anymore....Plus my coworkers who I became very close with who I still talk to til this day... But I'm glad that I didn't spend all my time working at the store because I didn't really have to trade my shift with anybody.....The leads always deploy me to work the Food and Wine Festival and the Flowers and Gardens and D-Street even Star Wars weekend event which I truly enjoyed!!!!

Now I’m glad I didn’t get Merchandise this summer for my first CEP (I got Attractions). On another note your videos have been an awesome tool to help with all the uncertainty that comes with this program, so thank you!

I worked at WOD during my ICP and I LOVED it! I did not have this enjoy your shift thing... Me and my friends did not find hard to get along with the others cms there, even the americans or the leaders and coordinators! I still receive mail, like ACTUAL mail from some cast members I met there, talk to a lot of them still and yeah, I just had the best experience, I am really grateful. Anytime I picked up a shift at another location, I missed WOD so much! Of course not everyone is great, mas the majority of people were... We cried on the last day, even the leaders, I miss there so much... But I was scared when I found out that I had been placed there because the reputation is not good haha

Hey! I was WOD of Spring 2017 and I'm so sorry you had such a bad time! :( It sounds like they changed things like there wasn't an 'enjoy your shift" but was more of a greeter. It was a lot more lax as well so I'm disappointed that they shifted that. Sounds like they changed not only the inside of the building with the renovation. :( again, so sorry you had such a bad time.

I had a very similar experience working for the Disney Store :) Overall enjoyed the job and everything but did have a similar position to "Enjoy your shift", where we essentially had to guest serve, sometimes for hours at a time. It was usually pretty nice interactions with guests, greeting them when they came into the store and what not. But I would sometimes be cornered by a manager to remind me that I had to do better to push sales and promotions and what not. It was made very clear in the interview stage that it was going to be a very sales focused job, but it does take away from the magic of Disney a little bit. Also we got tracked on the sales of reusable bags and gift boxes and we were told the percentage of sales we were able to up sell. There was a massive competition mentality to it as the best and worst sales person of the day were displayed on a whiteboard backstage. I think you made a very good point in the fact that as Merchandise Cast Members, particularly in the big generic stores outside of the parks such as WOD, have to do a commission based job without commission or a bonus, because it is a massive physical stress on top of actually doing your job to "close" as many sales as you can. You don't actually get any kind of bonus for convincing people to buy stuff and its incredibly hard and frustrating to try and sell to people who are clearly just in there for a browse. I think there is definitely a place for a cast member to interact with guests around the store, but in a more natural way, where you don't feel pressured by arbitrary sales targets. Very interesting video! I felt like i could really relate haha

Great video, thanks for sharing!

Sorry to hear about how unwelcome the other staff made you feel, it seems like it was so cliquey while you were and that doesn’t work for many people!! It’s completely understandable why it didn’t work out for you but you articulated this whole video so well! The tea has officially been spilt now at least and at the end of the day your experience is always going to be what you make it and you made your CP work for you by exploring elsewhere! Enjoy your shift seems like such a challenge! I would really struggle with it too and the forced nature of conversations in relation to driving profits doesn’t seem magical! The last day experience is so disappointing to hear about, I’m glad you at least had each other but it’s rather unfair! It is definitely as interesting and important to hear these stories as well as the all jolly positive ones because this is reality but you still manage to keep it positive & identified why it was the way it was! However, the picker role sounds like it would be my dream, I love methodical ordered like ‘treasure hunting’ for things to be taken to their place... how sad... 🙈🤣 Hopefully there will be something methodical like that in QSFB haha! ❤️✨ Jeez, that was such a long comment, sorry!

Your room looks just like mine haha! Full of disney things and photos of taylor swift 👍

That makes me so sad you had such a bad experience. You seem like such a lovely person. 😢

I'm sorry your didn't get a proper send off! I am hoping to apply Fall 2021 and a main thing I am looking forward to is connecting with awesome people from all over the world! It is unfortunate to hear that they didn't acknowledge the international workers as they did for fellow Americans :(

This makes so much sense! I hated it when I went into World of Disney because so many cast member kept approaching me which I hate! I literally walked around with my head down avoiding eye contact and the one time I did talk to a cast member for a while it was about food so sorry to her if I got her in trouble 😕😂

"World of Death" sounds amazing - I'd go there more often if they renamed it that

I hated that part of working merchandise at Disney. When I worked there it was called up selling and we were all responsible for up selling. I'm good with people but I'm not a sales person because I hate when people do that to me!

Her sleep schedule is like mine!! Last night I went to bed at 3 and woke up at 7!!

Don't let mean girls get to you. You are precious. I think they were jealous of you. We love you Emily.

So sad that you had a bad experience with WOD! Sounds like Disney need to have a huge shift round of their permanent staff and bring up the click. xx

I’ve never worked at Disney but I HAVE worked at the Disney STORE at our local mall and it sounds like world of Disney is very similar to what I experienced there. Management was awful and i hated it lol. To be fair at the time it was owned by children’s place and not Disney so who knows if it’s changed but I doubt it.

18:00 sounds like every job I ever had.

WOD squad Jan-May 2018! When I was there they just pushed us to talk to people lol! Who were your leaders? I’m curious how much has changed

Things have changed a lot in sales and pushing staff to sell is not one of them. It never worked in my job. And when some one comes up to you when you are looking around is a turn off. But just saying hello and talking is different. If someone does that and is not pushing something then I am more inclined to buy something. Sounds like Disney needs to pull in their team leaders and give them intensive training on what not to do and the right way to do it. (I have 45 years experience) Love your work fantastic as always. Thanks heaps. 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀🧀🥓🍕🍔🍟🌭🍣🥘🥣

The no goodbye thing seems really rude. I'm sorry you had a negative experience. Those girls should have minded their own business about your shifts. As long you didn't leave them in a bind of being understaffed. Also I totally understand the not wanting to push sales. For me, if someone pushes and I'm not already going to get, they lose any chance of a sale with me. Thanks for sharing!

I have the same T-shirt you're wearing. I got mine from UNIQLO at Disney Springs last October. Cost me $9.99. Bargain 😀

I can definitely relate with the goodbye scenario! On my last day at a particular store in Epcot after a 13 hour shift (you know the one!) they said hardly anything to me, didn't get a certificate or anything or a thank you. I know we were only there 2 months but it would have been nice to have been wished a proper goodbye at least when the American CPs had a speech and certificate x

I'm sorry your experience wasn't the greatest! Was the tracker of profit in all merchandise stores or just WOD? I worked at Vans and we had a similar thing on a computer and our managers were also really on us about it, we just had to talk to customers and push shoes

omg i worked at WOD once and i got that "enjoy your shift" crap. it was torture. Leaders make you feel like you have to hunt for guests as if theyre prey. Sometimes you just cant force merchandise down a persons throat. it actually turns people off to be THAT pushy. Happened at mousegear as well.

Wow! I will never go there again!

I will say I hate hate hate stores who approach me while I’m shopping and push me to buy things. I will leave immediately because it makes me feel uncomfortable. This makes me sad because I love Disney and I love looking at all the Disney merch in the world of Disney. I wish they’d realize that consumers know what they are doing and it makes them uncomfortable and they will most likely leave without buying anything

Yasssss

It’s one do the most famous stores in the world I guess for Disney fans anyway

My sleep schedule has always been the same as yours. I'm 54 now and still the same way. In high school friends wanting to go out at 10 and I'm crawling into bed.

Literally half the positions in my store are just guest engagement. It's so difficult to keep talking for 3-4 hours at a time and I can't trade my shifts for other locations. With practice it gets much easier especially doing it every shift. I'm not sure if it's just my store or Disney in general now but the emphasis is on making a meaningful connection with the guests not necessarily to make a sale

I wish I can work at Disney

*starts boiling water for tea*

I feel like they should let you touch the stuff because it might make guest more interested, I know where I work we are encouraged to play with the products to make guests interested.

World of Disney sounds like a typical retail working experience. Not really the magic you expect from a Disney location. I did retail for years so i get your pain

how are the theme parks in the UK?

I am sorry you didn't have a great time working for Disney. I have a few friends that worked for Disney and everyone had likes and dislikes for working for them. They have told me that there is a lot of bad mouthing about other workers. If workers want to go farther faster in their jobs they will be the worst co workers behind the managements backs. I sure hope you have a wonderful life and find enjoyment in what you do for work.

In general being a worker at Disney they seem to treat staff really badly .

I'm so sorry the some of the Americans weren't that nice. Cattiness is ridiculous. There are a lot of good Americans, but it does seem these days people are getting ruder and ruder. I am so glad Disney has an international program we all could learn so much from each other. I am American and I would welcome internationals with open arms. I am glad that overall your experiences were great!

shout out to the Canadians!!! :)

Disney corner is already Gone. It went away about two weeks away

Once again I'm sorry you had to deal with that. That is the kind of stuff that makes people around the world think Americans are ignorant. That's not right and just uncalled for

Can really relate to feeling let down by the pressure that a sale should come from every interaction - at the Disney Store in the UK, they would have secret shoppers every month and if you were the cast member that interacted with them and you didn't talk them into buying something they weren't intending to, they would name and shame you in their report, which was always on display for all cast members to see Also, it was always a competition to see who could up-sell the most, you literally have a sheet behind your till where you record every up-sell you make and the results get posted for every cast member to see, and the lowest scores would even be highlighted to draw attention to those cast members I also remember being told countless times that when we were collecting emails to send promotional info to, we had to make it sound as though we NEEDED their email, rather than that they had a choice - I was spoken to numerous times because I made it sound "optional"... As well as bags for the things they buy, we weren't allowed to offer them the regular plastic 10p bags unless they specifically asked for them, we had to offer the £1-£3 shopper bags instead I always understood that it's a business and they want to make high profits, but they pretty much didn't care at all about the quality of the interactions you had unless you increase the sale

I'm Irish and to me to tend to sound Australian.

the mexican castmembers didnt get a goodbye either at mouse gear. we were all really dissapointed as well. they literally gave zero fucks about us even though we were some of the hardest workers.

it sucks that your experience wasn’t a good one. having shifts that you don’t enjoy working are annoying especially when they want you to push sales on customers. a lot of the time people are looking to get some ideas or just to check out it for when they come back.