For everyone who wishes their life was more like a Disney movie, your time has come. You can now apply to live and work at Disney World in Florida.
Surrounded by musical numbers, magic fairy dust and friendly animals, this could be a real-life fairytale.
Apart from the intentionally heartbreaking movie scenes where your favourite animal dies or your new best animated friends fall out, I think it’s almost impossible to be sad when you’re taking part in something Disney related – and you could turn a dreamy childhood wonder into a full year of your life.
Disney World in Florida are recruiting for ‘cultural representatives’, a role which requires you to ‘authentically represent one of the countries or regions’ of the United Kingdom Disney World have recreated.
If I’m understanding this correctly, I think this means a British person, for example, could get to work at Disney World while just being extremely British.
In my mind the role would involve drinking Yorkshire tea with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, while being overly polite and apologising profusely when everyone laughs at the way you say tomato.
I could do that job!
The information page for the job at Disney World Resorts reads:
We recruit friendly, outgoing, hospitality oriented people to represent their cultures, traditional, and history of the entire country.
Participants have the chance to greet and interact with people from across the globe – all while sharing their own heritage. Participants will also contribute greatly to our overall guest experience across the Walt Disney World Resort, including the Kidcot Fun Stop.
In this 12-month Cultural Representative Program, participants can greet and interact with guests while sharing the United Kingdom’s amazing culture. The United Kingdom Pavilion captures the essence of the four countries of Britain: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
As guests enter the pavilion, they are greeted by outdoor carts selling refreshments, plus a variety of shops such as Twinings tea, Cadbury chocolates, fine china, sportswear from Wimbledon, and handcrafted products from Wales.
Opposite the shopping street, the Yorkshire Country Fish Shop offers fish and chips, next door to the Rose and Crown Restaurant and Pub.
It sounds exactly like I’d hoped – except with Twinings tea instead of Yorkshire tea.
The winning applicant would be working in an area of food, beverage, merchandise or kidcot. Kidcot refers to sections in the park designated for children’s entertainment. At Disney World, I’m not going to pretend I understand the need for kidcot, but I’ll accept it.
If you’re accepted on the programme, you’d live on the resort for the whole year, earning an hourly wage of $10, with at least 32 hours of work per week.
Although as is typical of Disney films, there’s one evil person in the mix, someone who’s dictated if you work in a role where you earn tips, your hourly wage would decrease.
Luckily, Americans tend to tip well, and you can charm them even further by being from the UK and saying tomato a lot – though I’ve also been told Brits sound pretentious when we say it, so it’s a fine line.
The housing sounds like fancy student accommodation, featuring fitness centres, swimming pools and computer labs, and in true American fashion, you’d be sharing your room with up to two people.
For anyone who’s both UK proud and a die-hard Disney fan, I don’t think you could find a better job?
Applications to be a cultural representative for Disney close on August 1, so you’ve only got a few weeks left to apply – which you can do so here.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.