4. The costumes you don’t want to wear

While some Disney costumes are, admittedly, not awful, most aren’t exactly something you’d be seen wearing in the world at large. Until Star Tours got its makeover in 2011, Cast Members got to wear pants with elastic around the ankles. At Dinosaur you can enjoy keeping clean in all-white pants. Housekeeping at the Grand Floridian? Well, you have to be extra fancy there so female Cast Members scrub toilets and make beds in a skirt, frilled apron, and white hose.

Not all positions have the option for shorts, no matter how much time is spent outside, and the average summer high in Orlando is a toasty 92 degrees. The daily high humidity levels average 90 percent or higher year-round. So if you’re not comfortable wearing pants in these conditions, you may want to reconsider any aspirations to become a Cast Member.

5. The hassle of looking magical

Think again before you paint your nails
Image: Kate Brady, Flickr (license)

The Disney Look Book is uncompromising in its standards for creating a clean, family-friendly look for Cast Members. This means no tattoos, or a major hassle trying to hide them. If you made the mistake of painting your nails like anything other than a proper 1950s housewife, you’d better have time to wipe them clean before your shift. For men, this means you’ll need to use your vacation days to grow a beard because you’re only permitted to have facial hair that’s fully grown in.

Looking magical extends to the way you hold yourself onstage, too. You can never lean and only in rare instances are you allowed to sit. You have to perfect the Disney point or open-handed gestures, and try to take on the mannerisms of whatever themed area you’re working in. Only at the Haunted Mansion does this permit actually scowling.

6. The challenge of the bathroom break

Go quick if you have to go
Image: dirtyboxface, Flickr (license)

The standard break schedule for an eight-hour shift includes two 15-minute breaks and one 30-minute break. If you’re having a truly magical day and your breaks fall evenly, this gets you offstage once about every two hours. Once on break, you have to use those minutes wisely to take care of any essential needs. Unfortunately, this isn’t always convenient.

At Jungle Cruise, for example, the bathrooms are a full five-minute walk from the attraction, each way. Many other locations have only one bathroom, so you’re out of luck if it stays occupied throughout your break. If you have a job where you’re allowed to use the restroom on an as-needed basis, or permitted to take whatever time one might need for this activity, say a quiet thanks because it’s not always so.

Though it’s easy to picture the same level of comfort and opulence offstage that you’ll find in the parks, the truth is that even Disney Cast Members are hospitality service workers when they step behind the scenes. You won’t see it because costumed cast can’t dine next to you or use guest restrooms, but step off the Disney stage, and it’s a standard service job that’s distinguished by higher expectations for creating an illusion.

Does the "Disney magic" make it worth it overall? Absolutely. But if you want to become a Cast Member, you'll need to be ready to work hard and put up with difficult conditions in order to get that special feeling of having helped guests have a wonderful vacation.