Disney Is Casting About for Workers

Disneyland on Sunday began accepting applications and interviewing job candidates for its new California Adventure theme park, revving up an ambitious campaign to hire 8,500 workers in the next six months.

That will be a tall order--even for a 5-foot mouse with obvious talent. Orange County’s unemployment rate dipped in August to 2.7%, among the lowest in California, putting the squeeze on the county’s already tight job market.

Still, on Sunday, a steady stream of hopefuls--some already sporting that trademark Disney smile--filed into a new white tent pitched in the parking lot at 700 W. Ball Road in Anaheim. For the next few months, the tent will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week.

“Normally, we’re not open on Sundays so this is really good,” said Jason Williams, an assistant manager in Disney’s “casting” department, which oversees hiring. “Thirty to 40 people were already here when we opened. They were all eager, looking for positions.”

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Williams and other Disney officials declined Sunday to divulge their strategy to bulk up the company’s work force. However, a check of the math shows the casting crew must hire at least 56 people a day, every day, until Feb. 8--the planned opening of California Adventure, the centerpiece of the park’s $1.4-billion expansion.

Wages for the mostly part-time jobs will range from $6 to $7.50 an hour, with some employees at the new 750-room Grand California Hotel, scheduled to open in early January, earning as much as $8.50 an hour. But most of the hourly wages for new workers will be in the $6 to $7.50 range, Williams said.

Interested applicants (ages 17 and older) should call the Disneyland jobline at (800) 766-0888 to set up an interview appointment. But the casting crew will try to work into the schedule some who just show up, Williams said.

“There is definitely hiring done on the spot,” Williams said. Some workers will report to work as soon as Oct. 7, he said.

Disneyland is also firming up plans for a series of job fairs later this fall, said Disneyland spokeswoman Chela Castano-Lenahan. Dates for the planned job fairs were not available Sunday.

Not all the new hires will work in the new theme park, Williams said. Some will be assigned jobs at Disneyland, as experienced workers at the 45-year-old park move to the new 55-acre park.

“Can you imagine that a man sitting down with a crayon started all of this?” asked Tom Farr, 76, who worked as a mechanic at Disneyland for eight years, from 1965 to 1973.

The Fullerton retiree was waiting at a table under a red umbrella Sunday, smoking Marlboros, while his wife interviewed inside.

Farr was working at a Chevrolet dealership in San Pedro when Disneyland first called. Back then, Disneyland sent telegrams to people it wanted to recruit.

“I didn’t put in an application,” Farr said. “The day I drove in here, I unloaded my tools and went to work.”

Farr said he helped install the clock on “It’s a Small World” and came up with the idea of having parking lot attendants on patrol to help guests with flat tires or dead batteries. His son, daughter and granddaughter all work at Disneyland and Farr doesn’t think the company will have trouble finding help.

“Oh, they’ll be flocking in here,” Farr predicted. “Of course, you’ve got to be clean, you’ve got to have a good personality and you’ve got to have a smile on your face. You know, you’ve got to have that Disney look.”

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Still, one prospective employee, You Young, wasn’t sure of his chances.

“Everyone wants to work here. It’s a good company,” said Young, a cleanshaven 40-something freelance artist from Irvine. Young said he would love the opportunity to paint scenes for Disney.

“I love painting and I could learn new stuff here,” Young said. “Besides, I have some ideas for some scenic designs they would like. Some different stuff. If they would look at my portfolio, they would love my work.”