Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The Perks of Being a Disney Cast Member


So I apologize in advance for going a little off the theme of my blog, but I was searching around in my Disney Memories scrapbook from my College Program days and came across several things that sent me right down Memory Main St. USA. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the things I found!

As you can probably imagine, Cast Members receive lots of great benefits for working at the most Magical Place on Earth. Of course all Cast Members are able to get into the Disney theme parks for free whenever they like, but did you know they are also able to bring up to four people in with them for free as well?? While the Cast Members can come and go into the theme parks as often as they like with no limit on how many entries, they are given a set amount of complimentary entries per year for their friends and family.

For Cast Members just starting out with the company, they receive a Blue Main Gate pass which provides twelve entries. For managers and Cast Members with more seniority with the company, they receive a Silver Main Gate pass with more entries. The pass is good for one calendar year and can be used at all the Walt Disney World theme parks, Disneyland theme parks in California, the Disney parks in France and Hong Kong Disneyland. While looking through my things, I found several of my old main gate passes along with their sleeves.


As you may notice in the picture, one of the main gate passes has Donald on it. That pass was a main gate for Cast Members at Hong Kong Disneyland! This particular one was never coded as it was a blank card given to me when I visited the facility in Celebration, Florida that creates ALL the main gate passes for all the Disney parks around the world. :)

Another great benefit that Cast Members receive is during the holiday season. Cast Members are sent a Family Holiday Celebration coupon booklet and passes that are able to be redeemed November through January. The passes include complimentary entrances to the water parks and Disney Quest as well as another complimentary entrance for friends and family that might be visiting you during the holidays. The coupon booklet had coupons that ranged from free popcorn and sodas to 50% off table service dining and 65% off Disney Resort reservations!


On top of all of that, the company also gives out special Cast Member only merchandise items as a special holiday gift and thank you for all the hard work the team provides throughout the year. One of my most cherished items is my 2003 holiday gift I received during my College Program. A picture of it is at the beginning of this blog.

Disney is truly a special place for both guests and employees.

14 comments:

  1. Do you know if being a cast member at a retail, Disney Store gets you free admission just like a WDW/WDL cast member?

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    1. At certain Disney retail stores you do get this benefit though a tad bit lighter depending where you are. Florida does offer this in most of their retail stores excluding its third party retailers in service (ex. Downtown Disney DJs, Lego Store, restaurants, etc.)

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  2. I do not believe it does. You have to be a cast member at WDW or DL. You might get a discount, but probably not a main gate.

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  3. I used to work there in 1997. To gain entrance all I had to do was show my ID and I could bring 3 people anytime no limits as long as it was not block out date. Has it changed completely? I just got hired again as a part time in the magic kingdom. Do the same rules apply or is it the blue card fopr everyone now? And also Is it still only up to 3 people?

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  4. Do Disney Resort hotel workers get this same entry privilege?

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  5. Yup they do im working at GCH got a pass and everything

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  6. Do disneyland resort and downtown disney cast members get complimentary main gate entrée

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    1. Disneyland Resort Cast Members do get complimentary admission to the parks, as well as substantial discounts. However, non-Disney employees of Downtown Disney do not get Main Entrance Passes, with the exception of managers. All Cast Members working at Disney 365, World of Disney, and the Disney Vault have Main Entrance passes unless they have misused the privilege.

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  7. do you know how many years you must work there to get the silver pass for life?

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  8. Can someone please clear this up again? If you work part time in The Disney Store, do you receive Main gate passes?

    Thank you

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  9. Heading to Hong Kong this month. I understand from previous posts that only manigate pass will work for WDW cast mem and this uses one of your 12 annual entries. Has this changed?

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  10. My sister is a CM currently and I, along with one more family member, are going to visit her in January 2016. Will her entry passes or free tickets work for a six-day vacation? We're expected to be there after the Christmas/NYE hype. Will we have to be with her to get into the parks?

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  11. Hi my husband just got the job as a host at Disney World and in a email it said he gets 16 main gate passes. I was wondering if those 16 main gate passes were for his spouse and kids or are those for friends and other family members? Do the spouse and kids get unlimited passes? Also do we always have to be with my husband in order to get in for free? Thanks

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    1. My husband just started working FT at Disney World and he has a main gate pass with unlimited access to all parks. Then I as his spouse have my own main gate pass but it only has 16 for the year and is connected to the 3 other passes he has to use at WDW. DL has no limit to how many people he can bring, just a limit on how many times, 16. As long as our guests get in with one of us two, I can go with friends while he's at work.

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