Hello! Ive recently been accepted into the program and Im so excited! lol My role is merchandise and was wondering if you could tell me a a little bit more about it and if you know anyone who did it and liked it/hated it? etc!?!? Thank you so much! lol
Well you’re in luck. Both Kailey and I were Merch Cast Members.
Like any job you will have the good and the bad. I for one loved the guest interaction aspect of it. You learn so much from people, which always keeps things interesting. Just like you have the awesome interactions, you also get the bad ones. The angry guests who would take out their frustrations on you, those were never fun. Yet, you have the opportunity to make their day slightly better.
The work is usually very fast paced, especially if you work in the Parks, which I loved.
My [JP] day consisted of rotating through over 5 different areas in my work location. I was usually rotated every hour and half. Out of all of my rotations, I especially enjoyed Merchentaining. Which as you will come to learn, pretty much means you pick a toy, or object in your work location and you get to go around playing with guests. It’s possibly one of the funnest parts of your day.
However, as merch, you will also have to stock. Which I completely hated. You’re solely responsible of making sure everything is where it needs to be, and there are enough of everything in your assigned location all day. There is barely any customer interaction, and you usually work alone all day. I know plenty of people who love it, but I didn’t.
Kailey here! As a merchandise cast member, I actually worked at one of the largest stores in WDW. Unlike JP, I was assigned a task for the entire day and did not rotate between tasks. It depends on where you are working. Some days I would be working in the basement taking calls, Others I would merchantain all day (I agree with JP, this is the most fun!) Some days I would be on Register all day and then some I would be stocking all day. (trust me, you don’t want to stock PLUSH!) I loved the fact that I would be assigned a task by CDS and would be assigned for that entire day doing whatever task CDS told me to. It kept the job interesting so you are never really in one spot all day! :) (Even on register, I rotated registers around break time) Merchandise was so much fun to me because I like the Guest interaction. As a merch CM, you get to spend more time talking to the guests than if you would if you were in say Quick Service or even Attractions. All of the people I have worked with loved doing merchandise. You might also be deployed to another location. With merchandise you are able to pick up shifts anywhere in WDW! :)
