Traditions: My First Day Working for My Dream Company

I’ve never been more confident that The Walt Disney Company is a company I want to work for than I was after my first day of training. Although Traditions was at a Disney office building called Team Disney, the Disney magic still surrounded us. With beautiful photos and art along the walls, and Disney music playing in the hallways, I knew this was a place I’d love to come to every morning for work.

What is Traditions?

Traditions is a day-long training session that teaches new cast members about the values of The Walt Disney Company and why what we do as Cast Members is so important. What is it that we do? We create happiness for our guests! One of the most magical parts about Traditions was the emphasis on how important what we do is to the guests who visit Disneyland. Yes, everyone comes to ride the rides and see the shows, but what truly makes our guests’ vacations is the interactions they have with Cast Members throughout their day.

Proving this point further, we were shown letters from guests who wrote to thank Disney for their vacation. The recurring theme was that guests were thanking Disney for their interactions with Cast. Not one letter said, “Thank you so much for building the ride Space Mountain, it’s so much fun!” Instead, guests wrote things like, “Thank you so much to the Cast Member working Space Mountain on 6/18 who let my son ride in the front of the spaceship even though it was crowded and told him he was the spaceship’s pilot – it made his night.” This was an inspiring reminder that my job as a Cast Member is a chance to make a guest’s visit to Disneyland even more special than it already was.

Another important thing to note about Traditions is that the attire is business casual with close toed shoes. It’s important to make sure this dress code is followed because part of traditions is walking around the park as a paid cast member, so you need to look the part, too! Cast Members will be turned away from Traditions and rescheduled to a different date if the dress code isn’t followed. Here is an example of what my roommates and I wore!

What do you do during Traditions?

Traditions gives new Cast Members a high-level introduction to the Parks & Resorts mission: to create happiness. To highlight this mission, We were shown a video collage of little kids finding out they’re going to Disneyland and the excitement and happiness they had which almost made me cry!

The history of Disneyland and Walt’s original aspirations for Disneyland were also discussed since an important part of shaping the future of the Disney Parks & Resorts is looking at the company's past.

The class also teaches in-depth the Four Keys of Disney, Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency, which are used to create happiness for guests. Following this section was my favorite part of the day, a walking tour of Disneyland to see the Four Keys in action throughout the park!

Our day finished with a few last inspirational reminders about how special Disneyland is to our guests. People travel from all over the world to visit Disneyland, and for many of them, it’s their first and possibly only time seeing the park. It’s our job to make their experience magical and create happiness for them while they’re at Disneyland.

My first introduction to The Walt Disney Company was one I will never forget. Traditions was extremely inspiring and made me excited to start my role as a Vacation Planner. Mickey Mouse himself hand delivering my name tag and company ID at the end of the day was just an added bonus. 😉  

At the end of traditions, we also received our training schedules and some initial information about what this training would entail, what we needed to wear, where we would meet our trainers and contact information of our trainers and schedulers. I definitely felt more prepared after receiving this information and could begin to organize myself for the next couple of weeks.

The most fun part of this day was that with receiving our company ID (or Blue ID) at Traditions, we also gained access to our main gate admission pass to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure! We headed straight for the park, and my four roommates and I got to spend the evening after Traditions in riding rides, watching the fireworks and getting excited about beginning our roles as Cast Members!