Living Backstage at the Most Magical Place on Earth
By: Bre Venanzio
Tags: Culture, Life Lessons, Disney, Entertainment, Work

From May 2012 until late October 2018, I was a full-time cast member at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. From November 2018 until present day, I’ve been a seasonal employee who has furtively utilized her limited park-entry benefits until the company finally releases me, though I haven’t worked a shift there since April 2019. For the vast majority of this time — save for about four months when I was on a temporary assignment as an Entertainment Captain (coordinator)— I was a full-time performer.

While in many ways this job was a dream come true, it was still a job — meaning, there were plenty of bad days mixed in with the good days. I grew up performing: dance, gymnastics, singing, piano, acting, basically anything that would get me on a stage. I spent my high school years in drama club, musicals, chorus, cheerleading, and dance team, then went on to minor in Theatre Arts in college.

Though writing has always been my one true love, performing has been my boisterous side chick. When an opportunity to audition for Disney came up, I jumped at it. I drove from Pittsburgh to Columbus on St. Patrick’s Day of my senior year of college for the open call and found out I got the job within a few weeks. I packed up my car and drove 1,000 miles south to Orlando a week after graduation, and I’m still here over eight years later.

I started my career with Disney, like so many others, as a part of the Disney College Program. Because I finished school before my program, however, I was able to stay on after, eventually transitioning into a full-time spot. This was a necessity, as the hourly pay at that time was not enough to live on, especially when one had a whole lot of student loans to pay back. I started out making about $9 an hour in 2012, and when I left I was making about $12.50 at the coordinator level. Though the unions did manage to negotiate higher starting wages towards the end of my time there, most of my 20s were spent making about $11 an hour. Because of this, overtime was not only available, but was all but mandatory if I wanted to pay my bills. It wasn’t uncommon to see Cast Members — Disney speak for ‘employees’ — working 50+ hour weeks. Some roles, like audio or lighting technicians, were commonly scheduled closer to 70 hours.

The problem here is that the cost of living in the Orlando area is far higher than the average yearly salary. This city is propped up by the hospitality industry, meaning that the majority of its residents are working low-wage service jobs. Even before the pandemic hit, it wasn’t uncommon to see people eating ramen and white rice for weeks at a time because after rent and utilities that’s all they could afford. On several occasions, I had to actually call out from work because my car was out of gas, my bank account was overdrawn, and I couldn’t find anyone to give me a ride. When I was able, I would often pick friends up and take them to work on my day off when they were in this exact same situation. If you want a more in-depth look at this issue, check out The Florida Project, a film that follows a family living in a motel near the parks. It’s fictional, but it’s absolutely a reality for far too many families in the area.

(Photo by Heather Maguire on Unsplash)

Unfortunately, as far as my day-to-day job duties, I’m going to remain pretty vague. Suffice it to say that if you saw any parade in the Magic Kingdom between 2014 and 2018, there’s a very good chance that you saw me in there somewhere. Work days started generally around 9:45am, though sometimes it was earlier depending on whether or not it was Holiday Parade season, and would often run until 12:30am if I was scheduled for a double. The sum total of a day like this was usually six shows over the course of about 14 hours, with an hour in the middle taken out for lunch. During the summer months — in Florida, May through September — we were often performing in a heat index of over 120 degrees Fahrenheit at the hottest part of the day.

I’ve seen fellow performers throw up, faint, and even go to the hospital for heat exhaustion and dehydration after one show. I was taken to the hospital on one occasion myself, though that was shortly after a major health crisis that had very little to do with the job itself. Entertainment leadership was generally excellent about taking care of the performers, making sure there was plenty of water and Powerade available, and keeping our working conditions safe, so this sort of thing was far less common than one might expect.

Injuries happen to be a common issue among performers. I’ve personally sprained my neck, upper back, left shoulder, and right knee over the course of my career. Some of these injuries had me out of commission and on “modified duty” for a month or more. Two of them were caused directly by park guests being inconsiderate, which is very common. I’ve had friends who were straight up assaulted by guests, but far too often people just don’t think about how they’re behaving when they’re on vacation. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve witnessed a child punch Donald Duck in the face while the parents continue to laugh and take pictures on their iPads, I could have retired at 26. I’ve seen Ariel get groped by creepy dads, Minnie Mouse get picked up and spun around by overly enthusiastic German athletes (the Invictus Games of 2016 was a wild time), and adult women trying to jump on Goofy’s back for a photo op. In case it needs to be said, please don’t do any of these things.

One of the best parts about working for Disney, however, is the benefits. All on-site injuries were promptly taken care of, treated, and fully covered financially. This process was extraordinarily streamlined, so none of my work-related injuries were ever issues I had to worry about outside of fitting physical therapy appointments in around my schedule. In a lot of ways, injuries are par for the course in our industry, so this is definitely not entirely on Disney, but it is definitely something to mention. However, next time you roll your ankle in the trolley tracks on Main Street, USA, just imagine having to dance on those suckers in cheap Capezios.

The absolute best part about my job was easily the people. I got to work with some of the kindest, most talented people in the country. Many of my former co-workers are people I’m still close friends with even though some have gone on to do other things. This job gave me the opportunity to meet people from every corner of the world. I can’t imagine what it would be like to travel to any random state in the U.S. and not have someone to call up for lunch. I can travel to almost any country in Europe, Asia, or Australia and have people to hang out with for the trip. I even got to spend 10 days in Japan with my best friend while she was contracted at Tokyo Disney back in 2015. I even met the love of my life through Disney. In an incredibly corny twist of fate, Disney really did turn it into a small world after all.

Also, if you’re going to Disney, please leave your bigotry at home. Everyone is gay here. Seriously. Everyone.