u/sportsfanvideojunky has a great list. Some things to add:

• Some locations are more generous with shift changes, so you may be able to get more time off. Just be sure to plan and budget for less income on your time off
• During the holiday season you can get 40% off merch. I'm not sure when it starts, either November/December and goes until January/February. You need to be there to purchase it, so make sure to use your own card.

1. You get 5 days off during your CP (even if extended). You have to put in a bid to get those 5 days off, there is no guarantee you will get those dates unless for a unique situation (e.g. it's for an immediate family member getting married or bereavement).

You will earn a few free tickets during your program and normally Company D will have some slightly discounted tickets on sale. Just keep in mind that blockout dates do apply to your personal maingate.

Merch

Here are all the locations where you can take advantage of a merchandise discount at Walt Disney World. This discount is usually 20% and applies to everything (including Pandora) except for the canvas paintings.

Shop Disney Parks app: 20% off purchase using the app and adding your main gate to your profile. Directions can be found at the Hub.

Cast Connections: Receive 20% and more off your purchase at Cast Connections

All stores at Magic Kingdom (Sunglasses shop is only 10%)

All stores at Epcot**** (discount varies by country but a majority follow the 20% cast discount including any shops that serve food such as Karamell Kuche in Germany)

All stores at Hollywood Studios

All stores at Animal Kingdom

Resort Discounts

As a cast member you get a really hefty resort discount at Disney for both yourself and your friends and family.

50% off for Cast Members. You (the Cast Member) have to be staying in the room in order to get 50% off.

40% off for friends and family. You don’t have to stay in the room in order to get the discount.

Up to 50% off at Aulani in Hawaii

Dining

Changes based on the HUB sheet (cannot be posted for non-CMs) availability. Please note there's no discount for QSFB locations.

I work for the Mouse, and I personally think Disney itself treats the CMs/CPs pretty well, though I do think they rely on the college program people more heavily than they should. They get paid roughly a dollar less an hour for the same work, AND the company gets reimbursed by the state for a good portion of that amount. So it costs Disney less per employee to use them vs. a regular cast member. Disney has an incentive to hire CPs over full-time regular CMs, and it shows in multiple ways.

It's the guests that take their toll on the cast, tbh. The number of entitled guests is just astounding. I work in Security, so we get to deal with the results of a lot of that entitlement and how they react when they don't get the free stuff or the level of service they think they're entitled to (or don't get the pixie dust they literally ask for continuously).

There are literally dozens of cast members assaulted across the resort on any given day. People ignore their directions, throw stuff at them, yell at them, punch them, etc. Just a few days ago, we trespassed a guy who'd reached around and grabbed Rapunzel's back end not once but several times during his family's M&G with her at MK (all while the automatic camera was taking photos of it!). When I came to work at Disney, I was astounded at the number of times the face characters (especially) get inappropriately touched by guests on a daily basis. Add on top of this the insane heat and short tempers during the summer and it gets to be a lot. You wouldn't believe how many fights break out in the Hub at MK before, during, and after the fireworks shows every night. The decline of civility in the US in general has been sad to watch since the COVID epidemic, but at WDW in particular it sucks. It's supposed to be a happy place, and a lot of people are not happy, for a variety of reasons.

Former CM. Disney was the hardest job I’ve ever worked, and I work in the medical field now. I loved my time there but it could be very emotionally and physically draining.

I think the way the Disney company treats their cast members as a whole has significantly declined over the years. They’re also hiring less CMs which puts an extra burden on those who are there. This is certainly observable since 2020 shutdowns.

I'm curious what division you're talking about, hell even what part of the property if it's this one... There are definitely still people hiring within Disney, as I've applied for handful of jobs in the past few days.

That is accurate. I specifically don't pick up swing shifts at Epcot for this very reason.

Most all food vendors in Downtown DIsney are all third party contractors or what are known as green card/badge holders. Most all of the retail shops are also third party. Only World of Disney and the DisneyVacation Club hawkers are DIsney Cast members with blue badges. Kind of sucks because you can work side by side with a DIsney Cast member and not get any of the same perks or benefits. Ie signing guests in, participating in DIsney Cast appreciation events, accumulating time etc.... also you are expected to have the same knowledge of the parks etc... and 99 percent of all guests are not going to know any difference and expect that you should be able to make he same magic happen as if you were a Blue badge cast member.

The ones that are for Disney do. Some of the shops in DTD are owned directly by Disney, those employees are considered cast members and get all the same benefits as if they worked anywhere else in the parks. Some of the shops though are not owned by Disney, and those employees are not hired by Disney, so they would get the perks of whatever company does own their store. So it depends in which shop in DTD.

Hulu no longer exists as a separate business entity; engineers working on Hulu or other streaming services are part of DEE Technology. Yes, they get park benefits as part of their compensation package.

One thing to note: as far as I know, as office/knowledge workers, we are not limited to 16 main entrance passes per year. I thought that limitation was on part time employees; not full time employees.

16 main entrance passes is for hourly workers, salaried workers get unlimited, but yes, they do get most perks operations CMs get

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No

Yes, you do. All FT and PT employees of TWDC will receive self admission + Guest Passes and access to discounts. most of them are not exclusive to WDW or DLR Cast Members. Visit “Disney Discounts” on The Hub or MDT to see details

Working in the parks is low wage, high stress, front line work. Think mall retail or fast food, but on steroids because everyone has already spent 10k to get to FL, tickets, hotel, and are expecting/entitled to the best fucking day ever.

A salaried corporate job? That’s easier to manage, and comes with actual benefits like health, silver park passes.

(Source, worked in Tomorrowland foods for 6 years in high school/college)

I was a CM thru the DCP (Disney college Program)

I personally had a blast, but that’s cause I was lucky enough to get the role I wanted (merchandising) in a great work location and had amazing management.

Both my coordinators and managers had our backs for everything. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for some other work locations. I lived in the Disney housing complex with people who had a very hard time during their program, and even self terminated. So I guess it’s pure luck.

Long opinion:

I was a CM for several years. I personally truly enjoyed it. It has been quite awhile and from what I see and hear from many current CM’s, it is not the same as when I was there.

Many of the perks and activities we had and much of the management has changed quite a bit from my day.

Apparently there is a “point system” for being late and other attendance related stuff that wasn’t in place back when I was there. Some other policies have also changed quite a bit, as well as the culture.

I do see a lot of the same camaraderie between CM’s that we had, and I do ask CM’s every time we go to the park how long they have been there, and how much they like it. Some love it, others say they are there “just for awhile”.

I have noticed (at least in my experience) that many CM’s I talk to are generally less than 2-3 years into their roles. There are a few that have been there for 10 years plus (including a friend of mine who who has been at Rancho Del Zocalo and has been there since 1989 when it was still Casa Mexicana), but they are few and far between in my experience.

Another friend of mine worked in DCA at Animation Academy for 3 years with a few roles at other nearby attractions. He loved it and only left a couple of years ago to pursue higher education and a different career. He misses it a lot.

So I would say it really is an individual thing. If you really want it, go for it. If it doesn’t work out, the worst that happened is you got to call yourself a CM for awhile.

You only live once. Choose what’s best for you.

I was a CM. At first it was great until it wasn’t. My magic was destroyed. It ruined my mental health and gave me PTSD. If you are looking to make living, just don’t. A very small percent make a good living. If you have savings and just wave to have fun, sure, but just don’t have high expectations.

I worked for the mouse in merchandising and loved it. It’s very different than being a guest. Your job is to make the magic rather than receive it. I love being part of the process so, for me, it was better than being a guest but that doesn’t mean it was easy. There’s no 8-5, you’re working when needed and that can mean early mornings and late nights. Some guests make it all worth it while others will make you cry. If you’re guest-facing you have to have thick skin and be able to move from being screamed at by one person to smiling and making magic for the next. 

I found the good guests far outweighed the bad but there were some rough days and many long days where I could barely drag myself to my bed. I have some ongoing leg issues from being on my feet all day. 

You’ll also get to see behind the curtain. I met some in leadership who absolutely keep the magic alive and some who shouldn’t be in charge of a pet rock. Only you know if that will ruin the magic for you or make you more committed to keeping it alive. 

lol, no.

The last few years have been very rough for us. Lack of hours, mismanagement, short staffing, unreasonably angry guests, perks being taken away (yes, umbrellas for shade are a “perk” according to the company)

Many of us are struggling, most of us really do want the best for guests but the company has made things increasingly difficult for even the happiest of employees

All I can ask is please be kind to my fellow team members and have patience when possible. If you have a good interaction with someone, leave a positive comment at guest relations or the email surveys because it really helps us

I worked a whole summer of those 90-100 degree days without shade in SNW last year and it's as brutal as you'd expect. Got close to passing out at one point, was sent to first aid for about fifteen minutes, then got sent right back outside. For a few days, our umbrella was placed next to the fans by Transformers, but management had us move it back because it would break immersion. I don't know what's more immersion-breaking than a bunch of poorly-paid workers visibly sweating through their uniforms while they put up with rude guests and unsupervised kids using the land as a jungle gym, but I guess they didn't see it the same way. To answer your question: I felt relatively well-paid considering my job was literally just to stand around in a theme park, but could I say I felt taken care of and valued? Not really. I didn't really expect for a job to take care of me though.

I didn't work for the mouse in the summer, but I definitely felt the benefits of a pay bump and good managers who really cared. I preferred the TMs at USH, but corporate and management definitely had their shit together compared to Universal. It also helps that guests are generally more pleasant at Disneyland.

I tend to have more positive interactions with the employees of Universal compared to other parks.

I have noticed that during the summer months park guests seem more impolite and then park employees are more on edge. But I’m sure being out in the heat is uncomfortable. I worked in customer service for some years and it’s hard to be nice when so many aren’t.

Nice try, HR.

Nope! The only employees that seem to be taken care of and well paid are the ones who work in the offices that complain about park staff not doing well even though they’re not the ones out in almost 100 degree heat with little shade and dealing with people.

Me personally, I don’t get disgruntled with guests. I’m sorry if you’ve had no so pleasant experiences with staff, a lot of times it is also guests who are rude to us even tho we are nice and ruin our mood. Same with managers who always have something negative to point out but don’t recognize the good.

I haven’t been to Disney in a good minute, but I’ve heard from guests that they think the employees here are nicer. I guess it just depends

You're better off working for something like rosendin or morrow meadows. They do a ton of work for the parks. I worked with several who said their entire careers were with Disney

Disney offers the Aspire program. The program pays for 100% tuition.

https://disney.guildeducation.com/

They do, at least when they were running the ad campaign but not sure if they do it for trades.

https://www.nocccd.edu/about-district/partnerships-programs/disney-aspire-program#:~:text=Disney%20Aspire%20is%20an%20education,of%20the%20Walt%20Disney%20Company.

If you are right they might not have updated their website.

Only at Goofy's Sky School.

Morrow meadows sucks though. Don’t go work for them

Merch

Here are all the locations where you can take advantage of a merchandise discount at Walt Disney World. This discount is usually 20% and applies to everything (including Pandora) except for the canvas paintings.

Shop Disney Parks app: 20% off purchase using the app and adding your main gate to your profile. Directions can be found at the Hub.

Cast Connections: Receive 20% and more off your purchase at Cast Connections

All stores at Magic Kingdom (Sunglasses shop is only 10%)

All stores at Epcot**** (discount varies by country but a majority follow the 20% cast discount including any shops that serve food such as Karamell Kuche in Germany)

All stores at Hollywood Studios

All stores at Animal Kingdom

Resort Discounts

As a cast member you get a really hefty resort discount at Disney for both yourself and your friends and family.

50% off for Cast Members. You (the Cast Member) have to be staying in the room in order to get 50% off.

40% off for friends and family. You don’t have to stay in the room in order to get the discount.

Up to 50% off at Aulani in Hawaii

Dining

Changes based on the HUB sheet (cannot be posted for non-CMs) availability. Please note there's no discount for QSFB locations.

I'll add that you also get 20% off at EPCOT festival food booths on Mondays through Thursdays! It does exclude third party operated booths, though, so not at Mexico, Japan, China, or France. Most food places at Disney Springs will do discounts for both table service and QSFB, and many QSFB locations at resorts offer a CM discount as well. If you mobile order and have your self admission linked to the app, you'll get any applicable food discounts automatically. You'll also get 10% off park tickets, and you'll earn complimentary tickets for family and friends based on the number of hours you work (three tickets for every milestone, basically). We get an increased merch discount (40%) during the holiday season (this year it doesn't begin until December, unfortunately). You're able to request holiday coupons through the HUB as well- these include a few table service dining coupons and coupons for free snacks (pretzels, Mickey bars, etc.). Just be aware that you have to be using your own money to purchase merchandise with your discount, but it's okay if someone else pays for food using your discount!

The biggest perk I heard is that you can get into any Disney theme park for free (except Tokyo Disney)

You’ll get a whole breakdown during your park orientation aka Traditions

Are you full time? If so, yes.

Congratulations

I don’t work for Disney but with any company you should get an explanation of benefits.