Ask a Cast Member

a-million-stars asked: when you do the college program in attractions, do you stay at one attraction for the full program or do you get to experience multiple?

It depends on where you’re assigned, as well as circumstances during your program. Attractions CMs in Fantasyland, for example, get trained at more than one of the attractions in Fantasyland. Other places, however, you’ll just be trained at one attraction, and that’s it. It’s also possible that the attraction you start working at might close or go down for an extended refurbishment during your program, in which case you’d be re-assigned to another attraction elsewhere.

Anonymous asked: My family member has won one-day park hopper tickets from a disney contest. Is it possible to use the tickets towards an AP, or not since it wasn't purchased?

First off, congratulations!! That’s awesome. =) Second, I’m going to be completely honest with you: I have no idea. I would think that since you won them, they’d be yours to do whatever you want with, including putting them towards the cost of an AP…but I could be completely wrong about that. Your best bet is to contact Disney and ask them directly. The number for Guest Relations is 407-824-4321, and they should be able to tell you for sure there. Sorry I can’t be any more help!

Anonymous asked: I check in next month and I'm flying down with 4 suitcases. How does Disney accommodate for luggage? If I go on the casting bus as soon as I check-in, what happens to my luggage? After casting, if I live in Chatham, do I go back to Vista to get my luggage and then take a bus to Chatham with all my luggage on the bus? I can't find any information about this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

They’ll have a location set up at Vista for you to leave your luggage during the check-in process. After you’re done at casting, you can just catch the bus back to Vista, pick up your luggage, and if need be, grab a bus from there to Chatham or Patterson.

Anonymous asked: How was working Custodial on Main Street??

Personally, I loved it. Working on Main Street, of course, I was working in the busiest section of the busiest park, and I had to deal with all the crowds for parades and fireworks and so on, so it was extremely hectic at times. Up to a point, though, I didn’t really mind when it was busy—it just meant I always had something to do, and the night went by much faster.

When I was accepted, I didn’t see Custodial being a job I’d particularly enjoy, but I really did. During a Streets shift, all I really had to do was keep an eye on my trashcans and do a trash run when they started getting full, and the rest of the time I could just walk around, sweep up trash, and talk to people. Custodial is a role with a VERY high level of guest interaction, and I loved that about it. Getting to talk to people and help them out with any questions they had was my favorite part of the whole thing. Restroom shifts weren’t as much fun—people more or less ignore you when you’re cleaning a restroom—but even that wasn’t too terrible, as long as we weren’t too busy and I didn’t get stuck cleaning City Hall. (City Hall female restrooms have a whopping 42 stalls…getting assigned there was not fun.) Custodial was also a very independent job, which was another thing I liked about it. You didn’t always have a manager breathing down your neck, and you were free to walk around instead of being stuck in one place for hours at a time. And I did a LOT of walking, trust me—I was in better shape when I was in Florida than I’ve ever been before or since!

So in a nutshell, I really liked working Custodial on Main Street, even though I didn’t think I was going to. Matter of fact, I enjoyed it enough that I can’t decide if I want to do it again when I go back, or try out something new!

Anonymous asked: What's the best role if you want to work late shifts? I know merchandise is one, because shops stay open late, but what are the hours like for Photopass and Character Attendants?

How late your shifts are is really going to depend on your location more than your role. I worked at the Magic Kingdom, so between being the busiest park, Christmas and Halloween parties, and Evening Extra Magic Hours, I worked some very late shifts on a regular basis. Animal Kingdom, however, very rarely closes past 6 PM, so the CMs working there are never going to have very late shifts regardless of their role.

Merchandise is definitely a good role for late shifts, since there are stores (like the Emporium at MK) that stay open later than the park itself. From what I understand, PhotoPass can get fairly late shifts too, but Character Attendants often work earlier. Custodial, Quick-Service Food & Beverage, and Attractions are also examples of roles that will work fairly late shifts on a regular basis. I’m a huge night owl, and the hours I worked as Custodial at the Magic Kingdom were honestly about perfect for me.

wdwcastledreams asked: Someone had asked you about pin trading and I also wanted to help, since I also collect pins! Cast connection has pins for really good deals (sometimes $1.99 and if you're really lucky, 99 cents!). I would go there and buy traders then go into the parks and trade with cast members. Some places even have pin books to look at! Also, don't forget about the resorts and Downtown Disney. They have a lot to choose from too.

Awesome, thanks for the tips! I’ve never been a big pin collector myself, so it’s great to get and pass on some advice from someone who is. =)

Anonymous asked: What's the differences between the 3 apt complexes? Do the people living in them have different personalities? How do we know which is best for us?

Chatham and Patterson are both newer complexes than Vista, meaning the apartments are generally nicer and in better shape. Vista doesn’t have any porches or balconies, whereas the other two do. Another relatively minor difference is that Patterson apartments have an Ethernet jack in every room, whereas Chatham and Vista only have one jack, in the living room.

Patterson and Chatham are more expensive than Vista, though, and they’re also a little more isolated. There’s a Walgreens literally right across the road from Vista, for example, whereas the Walgreens closest to Chatham and Patterson is a 10-15 minute walk away. Patterson also doesn’t have its own bus stop, so if you live there you have to walk to Chatham to catch the bus there. Chatham and Patterson are very close, so it’s not a long walk at all, but it can still suck to have the extra walk at the end of a long day at work.

There are stereotypes as far as the personalities of the people that live in each apartment. Vista is supposed to be the loud, party place, whereas Patterson is more quiet and isolated, and Chatham is somewhere in between. To a certain extent, they’re just stereotypes. All three are apartment complexes full of college kids, so of course there’s going to be parties and some noise no matter where you are. There is some truth to them, though. Everyone I’ve known that lived in Vista said it was a very social place, whereas I can vouch that Patterson was very quiet and somewhat isolated.

As far as knowing which is best, it really depends on your personal preferences. Based on what I’ve said above, you may already know which one sounds best to you. For example, I loved that Patterson was a quiet complex, but there are plenty of people who would have been driven crazy by it. It all depends on what type of place you want to live in.

Anonymous asked: Hi, i am going to do the college program and one of my roles is character performer. ive heard i have to do an audition. if i dont pass the audition, will i be assigned another role? thanks

Hey there! Yep, you do have to do an audition to be a Character Performer, but you can still be accepted into the program if you don’t pass the audition. You’ll simply be assigned another role.

Anonymous asked: Which colleges do the Disney internship recruiters go to? And do they only do presentations a certain time of year? On the website, it says there are no future presentations.

They usually go to a variety of colleges, although larger schools are more likely to get a presentation than smaller ones. The exact list varies from year to year, so it’s best to just check the official website. There aren’t any presentations currently listed because they’re in between recruiting seasons at the moment. The Spring program is just starting, so they haven’t quite started recruiting for Fall yet. For the record, though, you don’t have to attend a presentation if you’re interested in applying to the program anymore! You can just look around the website and apply at any time, once they start accepting applications. They should start recruiting soon—within the next month.

Anonymous asked: Can doors be locked in the appartments? Not that I don't trust people, but I'm planing on bringing my guitar and this is quite sacred to me.

Yep, both the apartment doors and the individual bedroom doors can be locked. There’s also a couple lockers inside each bedroom for you to stow your valuables in (although you’ll have to buy a padlock yourself), but they’re not large enough to hold something like a guitar, unfortunately.