Disneyland Paris Audition
Dancing down Main Street with the iconic castle behind you smiling and waving at cheering crowds is a feeling that can only be compared to that of stardom.
Seeing the joy you bring to children and adults as you single them out for a high-five and the looks of utter amazement are what makes the job one of the best on the planet.
But how do you get there?
I am one of the lucky ones to have gone to a Disneyland Paris audition and got right through to dancing on the parade within 18 days.
Remembering how many web pages I scoured and videos I watched online made me create this guide from the perspective of an actual employee rather than someone who didn't quite make it.
So for those of you that have never been to one before here is what to expect (This may have changed since I went in July 2014 but if it has it will still probably be very similar)
- After everyone has arrived in the waiting room you will be given a small information sheet and a sticker with a number on, you fill in the sheet with your name and put your number in the corner. Make sure the number is large and readable as this is how they will know you for the audition.
- Then you sit down and are shown a presentation about life as a Cast member, pay, discounts etc
- After that you line up and are measured, this is known as your "Disney Height" which may or may not be accurate, it's more the height they want you to be. For instance I am about 173/4 in real life but they put me down as 170cm More on that later
- Firstly is the animation round where you are asked to portray a variety of characters to 8 counts of music. We did; Cowboy, villian, dwarf, pirate, prince/princess and then an exit as yourself.
- This is taught as a group, rehearsed in halves or thirds, and then performed in groups of 10 according to your number.
- When performed the casting directors briefly discuss whilst you stand in your formation (5 back 5 front) and then call out the numbers of those who have been cut, the others then move to the side to wait for everyone else to audition.
- The next round is the dance audition where you are taught a combination to a song (which I can't remember off the top of my head - sorry!) which varies in difficulty. It starts off with quite simple gestural movements and then progress to more advanced steps with pirouettes and such.
- This is rehearsed, performed and cut in the same way as the last round.
- However (And this is important so i'll change the colour) The first round is not only where they judge your animation skills, but also your face suitability, and then the people remaining after the animation round are split into 2 groups (you are not told this though so you do it as normal) with everyone learning the choreography together, but then when they call out your number to line up to perform, they call out the first half first so don't be alarmed if your number is missed out. The people remaining after the dance audition for that group (so there are still lots of people left to audition stood at the side) are then sent through to another room for makeup and wig fittings for face characters. The remaining people continue with their dance audition as usual.
- Then thats it, you are then congratulated and told you have made it through and after filling out a form stating when you can start a photo is taken, you hand in your CV/resume nad you are given a business card with the casting directors details on which you should use if your availability dates change.
Some CDI or CDD contracts are handed out there and then but i'm not sure how they work as that wasn't offered to me, I also didn't do the wig and makeup fitting either incase you were wondering :)
Here is a link to a video which shows a bit of the dance (its in french though - but if you pass you'd better start practicing your french!)
TIPS AND ADVICE (As thought up by my friends and roomate)
· Think outside the box. (Don’t do what everyone else does, like when being a dwarf don’t be sleepy or grumpy)
· Energy
· Enthusiasm
· Villians do Scar *You don't HAVE to do this but this was suggested by someone who means don't do the obvious
· Smile the whole time
· Facial expressions are a must and try and drastically change them for each character in the animation round to show your versatility
· Don’t dress as the characters – This one is a strange one, as my roommate dressed as one character but got another, but also at my audition there were people who were just far too much like the characters and didn’t get through the first round, but then again one of my friends were telling me someone came as Aladdin and got it so I guess its a touchy one, but personally I wouldn’t do it, just be yourself (but just a more friendly over excited happy version)
· Wear something bright and noticeable
· Push yourself to the front but not at the very front if that makes sense. You want to be noticed but it is Disney and everyone is really nice so don’t be too pushy. And also this can sometimes backfire as I learnt when I went right the front, did the first run through when they split us in half and tripped over infront of everybody and sprained my foot.
· Visualise actually doing it on Parade in Disneyland Paris infront of a load of smiling kids and think about how you would perform to them, keeping them entertained with their parents taking photos making you part of their holiday album and making a magical experience.
But sometimes no matter how hard you try you’re just not what they’re looking for and it is really tough to specifically say what they are looking for. To be honest (and one of my closest friends I made there is in the same position and she has never danced before in her life) we were both amazed we got through the audition, especially since we were both 18, just left school and have had no professional training. Don't let people bragging about their training and backgrounds knock your confidence. I had 2 years of dance classes and a few amateur performances up my sleeve, but we think the reason we got through is because we can act and dance to a reasonable standard, are the right height and have the right level of animation needed. But saying that we still got the job alongside people who have been to Urdang, Italia Conti and all those big drama and dance schools.
At the audition i went to there was a girl who was there for the 7th time after clearly not being succesfull. She was one of the ones that tried far too hard though and came across as really fake as she was right at the front the whole time demanding to be seen. She got cut in the first round and then proceeded to watch the dance audition from the window, then went in afterwards to ask why she got cut and I think they just asked her to try again.
And as for the heights thing – welcome to Disney, everybody is the wrong height.
Its more the height they want you to be than what you actually are. In real life I am about 174cm but my “Disney Height” is 170.
MYTHBUSTERS
"Someone said if you go wrong in the dance audition you are automatically cut"
Of course you need to aim to get it right but don't worry. My audition wasn’t awful but it certainly wasn’t good and I only got about 60% of the choreography right. My friend (who has never had a dance lesson in her life) was telling me she could do the first 2 bars of the dance and not much more so just repeated that over and over for the whole thing, she got through and we both do the parade. It's the facial expressions that got us both through (we think) as we looked like we knew exactly what we were doing and loving every minute of it. Your face is probably more important in the dance round as you can be taught how to dance, not how to enjoy yourself, the companies ethos is to create a magical experience and this is portrayed mostly though your face.
"Face characters never dance"
When it comes to the Parade, everybody dances on it and the cast changes daily depending on what you can do. You get “repped” (taught) something within a month or so of starting and then you gradually build up your repertoire, as my contract was rather short (3 months) the only thing I was repped for was Green Army (Toy Soldiers in Toy Story) and as it is all I could do it is what I did pretty much everyday. As well as the dancing roles there are of course the characters on the parade, and the only ones you do will be the ones in your height range. For example a boy I know has been there for a year or so and in one week alone he has done Prince charming (face) , Pirate (dance) , Pearly King (dance) and Snow White’s Prince (face) so it really does differ.
"They only want people between 20 and 25"
I was 18. Granted there weren't many of us this age and I was the youngest as my birthday is so late but we were still there and in the same job.
Thats all I can think of for now, I may do a post on what its like being there and accommodation etc, feel free to ask any questions in the comments and i'll do my best to reply
Good Luck!
