Top Five Disney Cast Member Characteristics – Do You Have What It Takes?

Being a Disney Cast Member can be an exciting, exhilarating, frustrating, and confusing experience, and it’s one of the hardest jobs to get since Disney gets thousands of applications.

However, it can also be very rewarding!

If you want to be a Disney Cast Member, there’s a lot that goes into the job, but there are five important characteristics that every Cast Member has to have.

1. Friendliness

Guests pay a lot of money to visit Disney World, and they expect the excellent service for which Disney is known. Being friendly and greeting guests with a smile not only makes for a better guest experience but also better job satisfaction for the Cast Member and fellow Cast. Being nice to guests and fellow staff is more likely to result in them being nice to you, and you’d be surprised at how far a smile can go for calming down even the angriest guest.

Friendliness is key to being a Cast Member.
Friendliness is key to being a Cast Member.

2. Patience

Patience is an important trait for Disney Cast Members too. Whether your attraction is experience technical difficulties or Johnny can’t decide between a Mickey plush or a Goofy t-shirt, it’s important to be patient with guests. You can’t rush them or get frustrated with them no matter how much you’d like to pull your hair out. When things go wrong, it usually happens as a domino effect, but being patient can go a long way.

3. Diligence

Being a Cast Member is not easy, and you must be conscientious in your work. If you start to get sluggish, the efficiency of the whole attraction will suffer, and it can become a snowball effect. Add to this that you’ll be on your feet all day in the sweltering heat, and it’s easy to become lazy. You can’t let this happen, though, because other Cast Members will take notice, and you’ll get a bad reputation for being difficult to work with.

4. Composure

As a Cast Member, you’ll see thousands of people a day, and you’re bound to run into a couple disgruntled guests who are mad about something. They might even yell at you when it’s not your fault. In this situation, you must bite your tongue and remain composed. Otherwise, you could lose your job! Call security, and try to diffuse the situation. Professionalism is the name of the game!

Cast Members are calm under pressure.
Cast Members are calm under pressure.

5. Multitasking

Cast Members must often do several things at once. While each task may not be too difficult it itself- help guests board and keep the ride vehicles full- taken together they can become overwhelming. While you’re loading ride vehicles, you have to watch for potential dangers for loading and unloading passengers, count appropriately so as not to overwhelm the attraction, and watch for unsafe activities in the surrounding area. While you’re trying to do all this, a child approaches you and says he’s lost and scared, and you have to deal with him too. Cast Members must be quick thinking and efficient to stay calm in even very stressful situations.

Do you have what it takes to be a Disney Cast Member?

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