Sunday, August 1, 2010

Is it possible to live in Florida off the salary a Disney cast member makes

Is it possible to live in Florida off the salary a Disney cast member makes?
If I were to work full-time hours in, say, Attractions, the salary is a little over $7 an hour. Would this be enough to live in an apartment or small house with several roommates and still afford gas, car insurance, utilities, phone service, and groceries? I've never lived entirely on my own before so I need to know . . .
Orlando - 5 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
yes, but it would be tight, i get 7.50, work 40hrs. and my apartment in tampa is 900/mth with utilites, i have one roomate. If you have several i'm sure you would do just fine :)
2 :
That would be a lot of roommates....too many for comfort. Why not try for a much better job? You could try a temporary agency which often gets jobs at $15+ hour and snag a permanent job after that. In LA, $7/hr is not even minimum wage.
3 :
Inland areas of Florida are actually not that bad for rent as far as some other parts of the country. I would opt for an apartment (with a roommate) instead of a house. With a house you have a garbage pick-up fee, sewer, water bill, etc. Those are usually eliminated in an apartment. Some apartments even include the electricty in the rent. Plus, if something breaks down, an apartment management service will usually get on it more quickly than a private landlord. It won't be extremely easy - but you will make it. Everyone is different, but I always found that more than one roommate was just too much to deal with. Good luck.
4 :
It would be very hard to live here but it can be done. The money would very very very tight.
5 :
When I moved here in 2002, I made it on $6.50/hour, working in Tomorrowland Attractions. I had one roommate at the time. There are apartment complexes close enough to Disney that are income-restricted (low income) and fairly reasonable. When you work for Disney full-time, you can get you car insurance through one of three companies that Disney partners with and they'll take the payments out of your paycheck so you won't even miss it. Also, even if you start in Attractions (where they'll tell you you can't transfer to another area for a year) you can be "promoted" after 90 days to another department with a higher pay scale--e.g. Transportation, Guest Relations, Security. It's manageable, but tough at the start.