Vacationing at Disney and working at Disney are two completely different experiences, yet both are magical and stressful. Here are some of the things Disney cast members deal with on a daily basis!

1. Being expected to know everything

Don’t get me wrong, helping guests was tons of fun. I would feel so bad whenever a guest had a question that I didn’t know off the top of my head. We all know the feeling of being 8 hours into a 12 hour shift, ready to go home, when a guest pops out of the woodwork with some question like “can I get this shirt at Epcot?”, as she’s showing me a picture of a shirt with Mickey and Minnie under the Eiffel tower on her phone. Girl, I am selling you ice cream in Magic Kingdom. I have no idea.

2. Ridiculous Questions

It’s one thing to be asked a totally reasonable question that you don’t know the answer to, but some guest questions are just silly. I was once standing in the middle of Frontierland when a guest asked me, “which direction is Animal Kingdom?” or the time a guest was in utter shock that her Universal Studios refillable popcorn bucket was not valid in Disney World. *sigh*

3. Entitled Guests

Someone somewhere started some terrible rumor that you are entitled to free things on your birthday at Disney. Literally go get a celebration button and be happy you’re in freaking Disney World! If a friendly cast member wants to go above and beyond for your birthday, then that is wonderful. So many times I had people of all ages come up to me and say “it’s my birthday, do I get something for free?” But, since I’m a pushover, 99% of the time I would comply and try to do something for them. I was an enabler. I admit it.

4. Yes, Disney is Expensive

Disney World is expensive. Everyone knows this. $5 for an ice cream? $3 for a water bottle!! Cast members are aware of the high prices, but complaining to us about them puts us in an uncomfortable situation. There’s literally nothing we can do or say to change it. What did you expect? Also you can bring your own food and drinks into the park so if you don’t want to spend tons of money on food and drink there’s no reason to.

5. Language Barriers

Beautiful, amazing guests travel far and wide to come to Disney World. Often, they speak little English. It was always quite an experience trying to communicate with guests whose language I didn’t speak. Sometimes they would have a few English phrases nailed down, like when they’d greet me with “Hello! I do not speak English” flawlessly. Luckily, my guests were always awesome and we always figured out how to communicate.

6. Keeping up with the Costumes

Working at Disney means that you never have to worry about putting together an outfit for work, because every role has a specific costume that you are required to wear. Many roles require you to wear different costumes depending on what land you are working in that day. Literally, one of the worst feelings as a cast member is having 15 minutes to clock in realizing you need to go to costuming because your costume is dirty or you don’t have every piece of it you need.

7. Chris from Orlando

I became Chris from Orlando about one month into my College Program. I was also Taylor from Orlando, and even Jamie from Orlando. And for some reason I had an extra name tag that said Becka which tons of people I worked with assumed was my actual name. The name tag struggle is real. Not to mention every cast member who sees your name tag will see right through your lies.

8. Magical Moments

Doing magical moments was the best thing ever. It was a great way to pass the time during a long shift while making families feel special. It was always awkward when I would make magic for one family, and realize the family behind them in line saw the whole thing. Some guests have truly no chill and would straight up ask why the family in front of them got their food for free and they didn’t. I am still cringing.

9. Comp Tickets

I don’t even know how some people ever found out I worked for Disney. But, people have no shame. Everyone who works for Disney will ultimately get asked for free tickets, free food, or any type of discount by people they don’t know. Thank you for trying, but unless I actually know you, NO.