Disney workers want more money? (Mock gasp!)

Here’s the article I wrote for Theme Park Insider (all theme park geeks and connoisseurs unite!). Rather than reprint the whole darn thing word-for-word, I’ll do Mr. Theme Park Insider a favor and just drive all your traffic to his site. Click below.

Opinion time! As a former theme park employee, I fell into the employee group that thought, “Gee, I loved getting in free to multiple theme parks and meeting strange tourists from Brazil, but I also wish I was making enough money to someday afford to buy my own theme park tickets.” After a combined time of more than three years working at Busch Gardens, I finally left while still making below $8.

Working at a theme park is definitely a starter job. With hundreds of employees, repetitive tasks, and turnovers like crazy, I doubt theme park employees anywhere will ever get a raise higher than the roof. Still, I’m all gung-ho for the Disney employees– teach those other theme parks to pay more! Disney takes a large chunk out of Florida tourism, and I haven’t seen them produce any attraction recently worthy of more European visitors… so let the employees get the ching-ching! Finally, there will be more to smile about at work than just mugging for the guests’ benefit.

Yes, I know all tourism-related jobs took a recession hit. But when the economy improves, I hope the way theme parks treat its employees change as well. 14 hour work days, minimum wage, repetitive tasks, and manager freak-outs when you edge closer to overtime is something that shouldn’t happen in America.