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View Full Version : To be a Disneyland Tour Guide...?



BELLEH5
01-13-2002, 11:20 AM
I would really like to know how to become a Disneyland tour guide.. That is the coolest job ever, besides being a princess or working on Pirates. Does anyone know how to become a tour guide? Is there a school or do you have to work all odd jobs there for a while? please help. I'm moving to Anaheim in about 2 years. I looked on Disney.com in the career section and to be able to have a good job at the Disney empire you need to have MBA degree. THANKS!!!

Ace
01-13-2002, 12:08 PM
I was thinking that a "freelance" tour guide might be cool... someone would hire you to take them around the park and tell them interesting facts about it. It would be the best job, since you'd bet paid to go to disneyland. but I doubt anyone would want a stranger in their group, and I'm sure Disney wouldn't like this idea at all.

innerSpaceman
01-13-2002, 12:47 PM
Ah, Squinky, I have been doing that job for years. I have come highly recommended and have provided that service for countless groups of people, some of whom I only tenuously knew. It's a much better tour than you'd get from the official tour guides, but how I long for that riding crop and especially that really, really cool pin.

bluepearl
01-13-2002, 02:58 PM
BELLEH5: I went to apply for a job at the Resort two weeks ago, interested in a Guest Relations job. I asked the interviewer about it, and she said they were looking for bilingual persons, so that they could conduct the park tours and just general assistance to guests who wanted to speak to bilingual GR people. In addition, she told me that they usually hire from within for some positions like that (though I'm sure that if you just wowed the interviewer you could get the job). Hopefully someone with experience will give you more solid answers!

Ace
01-13-2002, 04:15 PM
Innerspaceman: ARE YOU SERIOUS???
tell me........
WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE HOW

please???

wonderful
01-13-2002, 10:17 PM
And the fact that you think it would be such a cool job makes you a prime candidate! Trust me... so, although being bi-lingual helps, it is not necessary (so don't let it scare you off), be confident, KNOW and LOVE Disneyland/Walt/the movies, and it never hurts to say stuff like "I've always wanted to be a tour guide" and "it looks like the coolest job"
You know, as a tour guide, I gotta tell you, I don't think I've ever worked in a more fun and diverse position and the Guest Relations team is a stellar cast of folks!
Best of luck. Go PLaid!

Wonderful

Morrigoon
01-13-2002, 10:32 PM
That's true... casting is full of liars, don't let them discourage you.

(hint: if you don't recieve a welcome package at interview... you aren't getting hired)

bluepearl
01-14-2002, 10:23 AM
Originally posted by Morrigoon
That's true... casting is full of liars, don't let them discourage you.

(hint: if you don't recieve a welcome package at interview... you aren't getting hired)

I figured as much. ;) But as for the welcome package - I didn't get one. Well, my time availability had to be extended before I took the job and the interviewer said she'd hold my application for a week while I sorted that out. I fill out paperwork next week. But anyway...I really would like to work in Guest Relations. I would like to know how to get in that info booth at DCA! I seem to have bad luck with the CMs in that booth because they're either really rude/arrogant or don't know a lot about the park. Some of them are really nice about it, but I keep coming across the snippy or clueless ones. I give everyone the benefit of a doubt, except when I'm treated like an idiot. I cannot tolerate that.

driftwood714
01-14-2002, 11:53 AM
Why would you want to work with people who are rude, arrogant, or snippy? I don't think I understand. Do all GR CMs come across as that?

bluepearl
01-14-2002, 02:20 PM
I wouldn't want to work with people like that. I know I can't say too much to generalize things because I haven't worked that specific position and I don't know what they go through. But I have worked in a similar position, doing the info desk at a bookstore. Believe me, we get the weirdest questions and the rudest people, but I try my best to be polite to everyone. Last week I was standing in front of the booth (with my back to Sunshine Plaza), and had a CM look at me blankly several times while helping out guests on the other side, even if they arrived after I did. I wouldn't have minded that so much if he wasn't so curt with me when I finally did get to ask my question. :shrug:

But I definitely do not think that all GR CMs are like that. I've come across some really polite and helpful ones that stand out in my mind. Some of them I don't see in the park anymore, which is a shame.

Nigel2
01-14-2002, 09:50 PM
Hmmm, I haven't seen any GRR CMs like that, but I wonder why (assuming there are some) they are like that?

FabShelly
01-15-2002, 09:07 PM
Originally posted by Squinky
I was thinking that a "freelance" tour guide might be cool... someone would hire you to take them around the park and tell them interesting facts about it. It would be the best job, since you'd bet paid to go to disneyland. but I doubt anyone would want a stranger in their group, and I'm sure Disney wouldn't like this idea at all.

Actually, I've been doing it for about two years now, first through MouseShoppe and now through LaughingPlace.com. Many companies do this, mostly from Asia. I've had Disney execs on my tours and they've thoroughly loved them.

Fab

innerSpaceman
01-15-2002, 09:34 PM
Squink, my unoficial Disneyland tour guide services are strictly unprofessional (i.e., not for any organization or for pay) and are provided only to clients who can provide a personal reference (i.e., at least friend of a friend of a friend of a friend). It's mostly for muggles anyway, and I doubt anyone on these boards, least of all you, would have need of my services. But for the unitiated or the less than fanatical, my touring services are highly valued.

Ace
01-16-2002, 07:45 PM
I think Disney should rent out people like you guys... maybe from a big vending machine. Instead of the group 3 hour tours (I just thought of Gilligan's Island... weird) it would be a more personal (and pricey) with a very knowledgable tour guide.

jmcnaulty
12-29-2004, 10:38 PM
http://conciergelog.blogspot.com/

j