Pulaski

So 20 years service and she's on $33k?

JPROPS72

They are notorious for low wages, largely because they can be. There are always a slew of dreamers willing to work for less. It was only relatively recently that they instituted a policy to pay $10 an hour minimum. The other issue that has to be taken into consideration is the cost of living in the area. If you want to live within a reasonable commute (which given the hell that is I-4 is necessary if you don't want to be in your car for 3 hours a day) cost of living is high.

Awesome Welles

I suspect that there is a bit of generalization going on here. I work in market research and have a friend who is a market researcher (customer insight) at Disney. I think that she (conservatively) pulls down $150k per annum.

Twinkle0927

Most service industry and hospitality jobs are low paid so it's no surprise that Disney is no different.

I am struggling with the OP's logic here. They both have reasonably good and comfortable jobs in the U.K. Jobs that allow them the luxury of long-haul holidays. That's a lifestyle that's very easy to get accustomed to and very difficult to give up. I imagine when they went to Orlando on holiday they rented a spacious villa with a private pool that was maintained for them. They rented a brand new vehicle and ate out most nights. That's the lifestyle they have and want to keep. How on earth they think that will happen on minimum wage jobs with almost no paid annual leave time is beyond me. Added to that, we have two people who've only ever sat at desks in the U.K. in terms of work and now want to stand, not sit, for 10 hours a hour in the blistering heat for less than half the money they were getting for sitting on a comfy office chair in the U.K. There will be no villa with pool, no brand new car, no meals out. So where's the dream? I am aware that there are "behind the scenes" jobs at Disney and not everyone sells hot dogs or straps kids into roller coasters but if you're sitting in an office working for Disney then why does it have to be Disney? An office is an office.

Pulaski

Yeah, I was guessing "near the bottom of the food chain".

JPROPS72

You think, or you know? I would be stunned to hear that someone who wasn't in the upper echelons of the corporate side and employed by Disney making that kind of money. I personally know one of the imagineering team who were handpicked to go to Shanghai to design and open Disney there and she doesn't make anywhere close to that. I just looked up the current salary scale for Market Research Analysts and it's $52 - 57K. To return to the main point though, Disney are not going to sponsor a visa for these types of jobs. They've just had a lawsuit for hiring cheap labor on H1-Bs from India in the corporate side.

Awesome Welles

I haven't asked her outright, if that's what you mean. She has a similar (only similar) role to mine and she lives a similar lifestyle to mine - so I think I'm in the ball-park.

Anecdotally, my daughter is an Orange County sheriffs deputy who does off-duty work at Disney Springs when she's not on patrol. They pay her $45 per hour. I only state this to demonstrate that they don't low-ball everyone.

Additionally, I didn't get the impression that the OP was considering a career sweating his balls off, in big white mittens in the park. Maybe I'm wrong, but there was some mention of IT skillz...

I should add that my friend/client is a little higher on the hog than a mere market research analyst peon - but by no means in the rarified air of upper management.