The job you WOULDN'T want at Disney...

hmmm...... i think it would be a job somewhere you have to be out in the heat in the summer for a long time in those big heavy costumes..... other than that i could do any of it

I'm not sure I'd want to be a server. I hear the money is good, but people on vacation can be quite obnoxious.

There would not be enough money in the free world to pay me to be a character. I would be the one you read about who swore at a small child or cursed (and I mean cursed!!) at an adult.

I can see it now, "Pluto fired from Walt Disney World after Guest Altercation!"

Agreed that the character thing would be hard, though I've heard that face character jobs aren't so bad.

I'm also pretty sure I wouldn't want to be in the janitorial service. Those bathrooms can get BAD.

No kidding! I'm psychic!

I would not want to be one of the bag checkers. Being so close to the park and not being in it.

That's a great point.

I've always wondered if the background music everywhere would drive me crazy.

Don't the characters have personalized air condition systems in them? I can't imagine anyone being in the heat in those costumes and not passing out!

I imagine they use all kinds of technology to try to keep them cool..and that it's still pretty miserable.

We were told on the Keys To The Kingdom Tour that contrary to popular belief, no they don't have an air con system, they only stay in the costumes for about 20 mins max and how long is determined by the daily temperature

In July the limit is probably about 5 minutes. Walk out, hug a kid, backstage for an ice bath.

Funny enough about being a custodian...even the President of Disneyland has done it!

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/kalogridis-240070-disney-says.html?pic=4

ANAHEIM - Five weeks into his job as president of Disneyland Resort, George Kalogridis swapped his business suit for a custodian's uniform.

Kalogridis then spent his Thanksgiving Day emptying trash, sweeping litter and recycling plastic and glass as a blue-collar worker at Disneyland. He answered visitors' questions about parade times and restroom locations, and he took his break with the other custodians, joking about the difficulty of cleaning up popcorn and cotton candy.

Kalogridis wanted to see his new responsibility from the perspective of the ground floor; especially on a busy holiday.

"I always respect the fact that cast members (employees) work in the park, typically giving up (holiday) time with their families and friends," Kalogridis says.

"It's important to send a message that I respect that and I would do the same thing."

Kalogridis, 56, is paying close attention to details while keeping an eye on the big picture. As the person in charge of Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure, he leads Orange County's largest private employer, with about 20,000 workers who serve 20 million annual theme-park visitors.

He strolls Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure often. He says he can't help looking at the small stuff - he has since starting at the company's bottom.

DISNEY LIFER

He started as a busboy.

It was 1971, and Kalogridis was in college when he got a job clearing restaurant tables at the then-new Walt Disney World in Florida.

He rose up the ladder, becoming a manager at a Disney World resort, later taking executive positions heading EPCOT and Disneyland Paris. In between, Kalogridis spent a few years in Anaheim, helping open California Adventure.

Along the way, he created a few Disney fan favorites.

In 1998, while attending the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Kalogridis was exposed to pin-trading, a hobby in which people buy and trade and collect specially-made pins, much the way coin collectors value rare coins. He brought the idea back to Disney and it's become a staple, with Disney fans collecting and swapping pins representing everything from the Haunted Mansion to Cinderella.

Likewise, after watching community groups outside Disney holding "breakfast with Santa" events, Kalogridis thought Disney could do something similar with its famous characters. Today, Disney guests can buy meals that come with a chance to dine with the likes of Goofy and Snow White.

"He's not in an ivory tower,'' says Jan Miller, a senior principal with the Gallup Organization, who has worked with Kalogridis as a consultant since 1993.

"The fact that he's one of us, that he's grown up here (at Disney) and been successful, that means a lot to people that he leads."

CROWD PLEASER

In 1999, after he'd visited the EPCOT resort at Disney World, customer Michael Crawford wrote a letter to every Disney official from then-President Michael Eisner on down detailing his disappointment with the rehab of an attraction.

Crawford then got a phone call at his home in North Carolina. It was Kalogridis, then a vice president at the resort.

"I was floored," Crawford says. "He must have been hearing from hundreds of people. For him to make the rounds, I was really impressed by that."

It wasn't out of the norm.

In the early 1990s, Kalogridis was manager of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. An event planner causally mentioned that she wished the dew had disappeared before an outdoor convention meeting had started. Kalogridis then had crew members dry the grass with towels.

"That's the attention to detail and how he'll do everything possible for guests that George is famous for," says Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney World Resort.

Gallup's Miller says she once walked EPCOT with Kalogridis, and watched him greet employees by name and ask about their families.

"He just touches so many lives in ways that's really personalized."

In Anaheim, Kalogridis has made it a point to make personal contact with Disney guests and employees and with community leaders. Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, to name one, says he's already had more direct contact with Kalogridis than with the three resort predecessors.

Kalogridis called Pringle on a Sunday, shortly before the recent union hunger strike, to talk about how the city was handling it.

"There weren't people in between. We didn't need to use all the filters of the organization," Pringle says.

"That's really good. It's a very hands-on focus."

DETAILS, DETAILS

Kalagridis still walks the parks a few times a week and the results show up in tiny, but important ways.

An employee at a Disneyland photo kiosk recently told Kalogridis that visitors kept asking for a battery that wasn't available. He promised to get the batteries in stock.

When Kalogridis strolls around Disney's California Adventure, he makes sure everything is in order. He looks up at the light bulbs to see if they are clean. He checks to ensure that the chairs are properly placed in Ariel's Grotto restaurant. He picks up litter.

"You never lose it," Kalogridis says during a recent walk.

Kalogridis' time in Anaheim hasn't been all bliss.

He came aboard during a now 2-year-old contract dispute, still unresolved, between Disney and the hotel union.

"Certainly, we don't like it," says Kalogridis, a former union member, on the day that the hunger strike was announced.

"We don't like to feel like any cast member is going to these lengths for us to listen to him or her. At the same time, it's their right to demonstrate."

When asked what his goals are, Kalogridis jokes that he simply doesn't want to mess anything up.

"There's such a passion for the Disneyland Resort and Disneyland in particular. It's really fantastic," Kalogridis says.

"At the same time, you realize whatever you're going to do, you have to think about (the employees and the public) before you act."

I used to work on Main Street USA as an ICP during the summer of 2007 and, whilst I wasn't a character as in Mickey, Pluto, Goofy etc, I still had to wear my early 1900s costume in that heat and LORDY it was warm! Still I have to say, whilst you do indeed get a lot of grumpy guests, on the whole working there is fantastic and the majority of guests tend to be in a very good mood Any bad was massively outweighed by the good!

Plus, the number of funny questions you get is great. One of my favourite common questions was "what time does the 3 o'clock parade start?"

(to answer the question though, I did not envy a friend I had who worked in the food court in the Pop Century Resort...only because it meant getting up at 3 or 4am to start work! The work itself sounded pretty fun!)

OOoo, thanks for the insight and perspective, Pegosaurus! You give me hope.

I wanted to be Art the Greeter at the Beach Club. We saw him last year when we stayed. He was the happiest, friendliest person we saw - every morning he was there to greet us with a smile and something nice to say! (I had my birthday ears on and he said "Steak and Lobster for your today - no hamburgers on your birthday!")

The last day there I decided I wanted to get his autograph and picture, and he was gone! We didn't realize until we got home that Art was an institution, had a Facebook fanpage, and retired that week.

You were there the week Art retired?! Awesome! I've been looking forward to saying hello to Art for years. He's so kind. The greeters there aren't the same now. They're nice, but not the same.

Speaking of, my facebook page is telling me that Art the Greeter's birthday is this week!