5) Friendliness
Being a friendly person goes hand in hand with being a Disney cast member. Guests are paying a lot of money to enter the Disney Parks, so the least a cast member can do is put on a smile. Friendliness not only makes the guest experience better, but it makes the job of the cast member easier. The nicer you are to guests the nicer they are in return. Guests that are having a rough day can unfortunately take out their anger on cast members, which is unfortunate, but most of the time when the cast member responds with a smile, suddenly the infuriated guest calms down.
4) Patience
It can take a lot of patience to be a Disney cast member. When something goes wrong on the job it can be hard not to pull your hair out. Cast members have to practice their patience daily. Whether it’s an attraction breaking down for 30-minutes due to a technical difficulty, or a family of twelve that waited all the way until the front of the line until they decided what they wanted for lunch.
3) Hardworking
There isn’t an easy position at Walt Disney World or Disneyland. Working as a cast member in the Magic Kingdom in 2013, I was on my feet all day long all summer long. It is certainly a fun job, but if you expect you can be lazy on the job, you won’t last very long. If you don’t pull your weight as a cast member, the consequences can be disastrous. If you start to get sluggish and slow, it affects the efficiency of the whole attraction or restaurant. Being a cast member is much like playing a team sport, and if one member of the team stops pulling their weight, the whole team suffers. These lazy cast members get a reputation by other cast members who have to pick their slack.
2) Composure
Most guests are great, but some days it only takes one rude person to get under your skin. You encounter hundreds if not thousands of people in a day, and it only takes one grouchy guest to say something that can infuriate you. This is where you need to bite your lip or turn the other cheek. It can cost cast members their job if they respond with irritation, even if a guest is acting out of line. It is the job of the cast member to handle every situation with professionalism. This small group of grouchy guests typically are looking to get a reaction out of you, the cast member. I’ve seen cast members threatened, and even physically pushed. Remaining calm and calling for the security in these situations is usually the best way to handle out of control guests.
1) Multitasking
Being a cast member is a lot like juggling, and then someone hands you a lost screaming child. There is a lot going on, and if you can’t handle multiple tasks at once you might struggle. You have to be on your toes and a quick thinker. Standing out in front of an attraction seems easy, and it is for the most part. But when things go wrong everything seems to happen at once. There are times when a lost child wanders up to you, meanwhile a family is trying to bring food into the attraction (which isn’t allowed), and another family is yelling at you for no good reason. Dealing with all three problems at once can be overwhelming. It is important as a cast member to handle these situations calmly and efficiently.
