This is the latest in a new series of articles on Theme Park Tourist in which we’ll talk to Cast Members at Walt Disney World to understand their roles and the part that they play in “creating the magic” for guests.
The interviews will offer an insight into Cast Members’ day-to-day roles, the training that they undergo and the aspects of their jobs that they find the most rewarding. We might even uncover a funny story or two.
There are almost 25,000 rooms spread across the Walt Disney World Resort’s hotels, campsites, cabins and Disney Vacation Club properties. It would take you more than 68 years to stay in every single one of these at a rate of one per night.
Millions of guests stay at the resort’s on-site hotels every year. Handling that volume of guests is a major undertaking, with thousands of Cast Members being employed in a variety of roles.
One of those Cast Members was Mary Deacon, who worked at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge between July 2012 and July 2013. Six of those months were spent working on the front desk, with a further six being spent working as a concierge (all as part of the International College Program). During her time at the Lodge, Mary also participated in club lounge, club lounge concierge and back office support roles.
Mary was kind enough to speak with Theme Park Tourist about her experiences during that time – and you can read her thoughts below.
Landing the role
Mary heard about the role through her university (Sheffield Hallam University in the UK). “I thought it sounded like a wonderful opportunity to work for an internationally renowned company and develop my guest service skills and in turn lead to developing my skills for my CV,” she recalls.
The interview process was carried out by a partnership company called Yummy Jobs. “We first attended a presentation at my university and on the same day had a group interview of 15. Then representatives from Disney came to Sheffield Hallam University where we had a group interview of four and another of two. Questions in interviews related to experience we had had previously, our personalities and what jobs we would be comfortable in participating in.”
Training up
The initial training for the role began with Traditions, which every Cast Member goes through. Mary also went through “numerous days of filling in paperwork, moving into accommodation and settling in where we got the job roles we were going to be participating in for the year.”
“I then went to Disney University where I had a week’s training in Destination Cashier where we were taught the skills for front desk including learning the computer system, the correct language to use whilst working and company policy learning through role play. I then went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge where I had an introductory day at the resort called the Lwazi Safari where fellow Cast Members taught me about the resort, as well as another week’s training on the front desk with another fellow Cast Member.”
“It was a great deal of training however it is necessary as in a front desk role you can have a wide range of situations and questions. Other training included going to Disney University for a week of concierge training and a week with a fellow Cast Member on the concierge desk. Curbside was three days with a fellow cast member and club lounge was a week with a fellow Cast Member including e-learning on food safety. Club lounge concierge was a week with a colleague. Back office support also included a number of days at Disney University and two weeks with colleagues in the back office role.”
Day-to-day duties
Mary’s day-to-day duties varied for the various roles she undertook. “Front desk included checking people in and out making sure they got the correct information, dealing with guest’s folios, Key to the World cards, answering any questions people had and dealing with any guest service recovery situations.”
“Concierge is the same as front desk as well as booking dining reservations, selling park tickets and giving guests advice on activities to do which I could book also.”
“Back office support was very different and was a role I loved even though I didn’t get as much face-to-face interaction with guests. It included blocking rooms for guests requests, upgrading guests to create magic as well as if they want to upgrade themselves, extending stays, dealing with computer system issues, answering the phones to guests who may have questions about their room and other questions and also answering the phone to front desk and concierge Cast Members who may want to modify reservations via guests requests or want to do something nice for guests.”
“Cast Members call so they do not leave the guest by themselves which can be frustrating even though the back office is just off-stage. This was a role where I dealt with a lot of guest service recovery situations and got a lot of empowerment to make guests happy and create magic for them.”
“I loved working at Disney and every day even just checking people in was great, people were very excited to be there and it was great to share in their happiness and add to it. I loved how as Cast Members we were empowered to make decisions such as giving guests extra things just to make their stay more magical.”
The rules
There were some unusual rules for those working at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. “When checking people in we had to greet guests with ‘Dumela! Welcome home! My name is Mary, how can I assist you today?’ We could also never say ‘help’ – it was ‘assist’. ‘No problems/worries’ is always ‘my pleasure’. It sounds silly, but these little things Disney think of make all the difference. As the Lodge is based on Africa we had lots of themed language we had to use but it makes all the difference I think!”
The upsides
There were a number of plus points to working in a Disney hotel, as Mary remembers: “Making guests happy by maybe upgrading their room, sending a gift to the room and even just simple things like giving kids stickers and making a fuss over them. I was also involved in the MagicBand implementation so that was really great to see how it was rolled out.
The downsides
Inevitably, there are some downsides when dealing large numbers of customers. “On some rare occasions, guests were angry and frustrated and we were trying to resolve the situation – but the guest may continue to be angry. I always worked to the best of my ability to resolve the situation and go above and beyond with guest service recovery. It was great if you resolved the situation and the guest was really pleased with the result. “
Tips for visitors
Mary has a few suggestions for those staying at Walt Disney World: “If you put notes on your reservation for any particular things you want/require we will do our hardest to try and fulfill them, it is always worth a quick phone call to request anything for example if you are travelling with other parties and want to be close to them, a certain floor etc. However we only assign reservations five days out which is worth remembering.”
“If guests are really nice and chatty at check in Cast Members are more likely to try and get them a free upgrade – I think that’s just human nature of wanting to assist nice people, rather than people who ask straight away for an upgrade. Also, if guests ever need a hand with anything we are always happy to assist there is no request to big!”
Happy memories
Mary’s happiest memories of her time at Walt Disney World are of helping guests in tough situations to enjoy their vacations. She recalls: “I checked in a family with a child who had got really sick on the journey down and unfortunately couldn’t go to the parks. He was sad he couldn’t go out as he was really looking forward to visiting the parks.”
“I upgraded the family to a room with a great room with a view of the animals, so he wasn’t missing out fully. I also went to the gift shop and bought the child a number of items. I then went to the room and told the child Mickey Mouse had stopped by and even though he didn’t have enough time to come by and say hi he’d heard he was ill and wanted to drop off a few surprises to make him feel better. The child was over the moon.”
“Later the parent came down to the from desk and hugged me for making the effort, I love how little things like that can make a difference between a not great holiday due to a sick child to a magical one.”
“Another story was when I working in the back office I had a phone call from a guest who unfortunately had a smell in their room. I apologised and upgraded them to another room straight away, he was very grateful and we got chatting due to him. Being English he was shocked to hear an English voice down the phone and found out it was his honeymoon. We chatted some more and he seemed happy by the end of the phone call.”
“Whilst he and his wife moved rooms, I called private dining and asked them to send a bottle of champagne and some chocolates. Private dining normally has to have 12 hours to process the order as they get a large number of orders, but I managed to speak to the manager and got the champagne there in the next 15 minutes. The guest called me the next day saying it was a lovely surprise and it had made his and his wife’s night. I actually saw that guest over the next few days of their stay and we chatted a great deal. It’s lovely when you get to know guests and they get to know you.”
“Working at Disney, as cheesy as it sounds, was truly magical; I met some amazing people and had some amazing experiences. The amount of training and detail Disney go to is incredible and I truly felt everyone who worked there really cared, I know I did. I would recommend it to anyone, which is strange as before I went to Disney I liked it but wasn’t really bothered. After working there I love it and want to spend years going there with my family when I have one!”
Thanks to Mary for sharing her memories with us. If you’d like to learn more about Cast Members’ roles and experiences at Walt Disney World, sign up now to be notified when Creating the Magic: Life as a Disney Cast Member is released.
