The Orange County register shares the story of an under-employed couple who visited the park daily. “'It was a way to keep ourselves occupied because we didn't have jobs,' said Mickesh about the initial reasons behind their self-imposed challenge. 'Originally, we thought we'd get jobs and stop doing it, but we kept it going.'"

  • jandrese

    How would you get a job if you’re at Disneyworld every day?  I don’t think they put the help-wanted signs inside of the Magic Kingdom.  

    • artbyjcm

      Land.

  • princessalex

     If you read the article, you’ll find that they each found jobs, but kept going every day anyway.  They just didn’t spend the entire day there everyday. 

  • http://www.tavie.com Tavie

    As someone who goes to Walt Disney World at least once a year, and has been to various Disney parks more times than I have years of age, and who has held annual passes so I could go multiple times in one year, and is a member of the Disney time share, and is generally known to be basically obsessed with visiting Disney – man, I could never go every day for a year. That would kill the fun for me in less than two weeks.

  • http://blog.doomsdayzen.com agonist

    Having an annual pass and living in the area transforms the Disneyland experience. Instead of a trip having to be an all day, do everything adventure, one can simply stop by to have lunch, take a relaxing ride on Pirates or another ride that often has a minimal wait, and then leave and carry on with the rest of a normal day.

    It’s quite liberating to go to Disneyland without the pressure of needing to do everything.

    • artbyjcm

      I went nearly 30 times in 2012. I usually go there to take pictures, actually. I’m obsessed with the fine details that the imagineers put into things. Even the variety of plantlife. So I go there, with my crappy cameras, maybe someday I’ll get that DSLR I’ve wanted, and get some better pictures. But just photographing the place is a hobby of mine. I’ve spent hours there, never setting foot on a ride.

      • Ethan Cooper

        I’m selling a used D90.  

  • Daneel

    I don’t think you could pay me enough to go to Disneyland even once.

  • michaelismichael

    How can you afford a $650/year pass when you don’t have a job? And two of them? 

    From reading the article, it appears that they must have bought these passes before they found work. I don’t think you should call someone ‘unemployed’ or ‘under-employed’ if you have this much money to toss around. I certainly couldn’t when I was.

    • http://twitter.com/anonotwit anonotwit

      Huh? “Unemployed” means they didn’t have jobs. “Under-employed” means they had shitty part-time jobs. Neither has anything to do with how much money they had in the bank when they lost their “good” jobs.

      • Boundegar

        There is a certain mindset that can’t stand the idea of anybody who receives government benefits having anything nice.  It doesn’t matter how good their old job was, doesn’t matter if they inherited or if they have a successful spouse – if somebody receives unemployment, they should live in a slum and experience shame.

        That said, of course this couple wasn’t even unemployed.  But still.

    • artbyjcm

      To be honest, A. they purchased them before the prices went up, they were a better price before. B. They have a monthly payment option which makes it far easier to deal with. C. I used to not get an annual pass because I thought I was saving money. But I love escapism, so instead I spent a ton of money on video games and going to watch movies. I decided to get the annual pass again, and now use the themepark a an outlet for this escapism. I think I’ve actually saved money since those days. I will also go to a store out of boredom, end up buying little things here and there. At disneyland everything is just trinkets. I don’t feel as compelled to buy stuff there.

    • http://www.tulgeywooddesigns.com Amphigorey

       Did you read the article? The passes were gifts.

  • TheMadLibrarian

    I admire their dedication, but am surprised that they could afford even the annual pass if they were really underemployed.  I’d like a part-time job that paid enough for me to buy a $650 annual pass to Disneyworld without thinking hard if I would need that money later.

    • Aleknevicus

      The article states that they received the passes as gifts.

    • http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

       ”dedication”???

  • http://www.facebook.com/postelwait Cameron Postelwait

    waiting in line to see robots sing saccharine seems like a lot more work than a job. 

    • artbyjcm

      You must have a very boring job.

  • hawkisgirl

    It says in the full article that they were given the passes as a gift, so that’s how they afforded it. I could definitely do a fortnight. Not sure how much more.

  • plyx

    Man, those poor people. Damn this recession!

  • itsgene

    Not mentioned: on the 365th day, Disney CEO Bob Iger met them at the park and gave them a night in the Disney Dream Suite to cap off their year.

    • http://www.tavie.com Tavie

       OK, well, now I hate them.

    • http://www.tulgeywooddesigns.com Amphigorey

       I think it was Tom Scaggs, who runs Disneyland, not Bob Iger.

      • itsgene

        Thanks for the correction – you’re right, my memory cheated. ;)

  • fnc

    Well when you’re down and out, why not?

  • http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

    I would find it preferable to purchase a small ball peen hammer and hit myself in the head with it…..every fucking day! :)

    • SoItBegins

       You’d lose more neurons that way.

  • http://profiles.google.com/steve.nordquist Steve Nordquist

    Explaining the gaps in employment (thus underemployed) with an OCR article and a count of parades, E-ticket perspectives and arrangements of alternate music during the Singing of Saccharine sounds like a good break from saying you studied Rails and wrote a lot.