Sinclair Community College head basketball coach Jeff Price has a big reason to smile.
Every summer, Price heads down to Walt Disney World in Orlando, where he has been a cast member for 22 years. Price works as an entertainer at Walt Disney World.
“I can’t wait to get there,” Price said. “Most people go through a mid-life crisis and they do something crazy, I just go to Disney World.”
Price explained that his role as a seasonal cast member, a minimum of 40 hours per year, is based around his out of state recruiting that he does at the Amateur Athletic Union National Tournament in Orlando. Even though his trip is partially for the recruitment of basketball prospects, Price looks at his annual trip to WDW as a way to get away from normal everyday life.
Over his 22-year tenure as a cast member, Price has seen the company (Disney) grow tremendously. And even though so many things have changed over the years, his optimism toward returning still stays the same.
“When I first started Space Mountain was the biggest attraction. Now you have Expedition Everest, Mission Space and I still like Rockin’ Rollercoaster,” Price said. “The first thing I’m going to do when I get down there is park-hop.”
Price has worked all across the Disney properties, both as a full-time cast member and a seasonal cast member, which is his current work status. While his main role is in entertainment, Price is cross-trained in merchandise; however, he insists that nothing compares to his entertainment role.
“We get an opportunity to create magic; and that’s instant gratification. Doesn’t matter how hot it is or how cold it is. I’d work all day in that heat for that feeling, that adrenaline. And personally, that’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Price said.
Price said a typical day of work for him isn’t very typical at all. One day he could be at Magic Kingdom, the other he could be at a resort working in a restaurant. But, no matter where he is stationed for the day, he starts out the same way.
Every day before work, Price heads into Magic Kingdom, buys a bag of popcorn and a coke-a-cola, sits on his favorite bench on Main Street, and looks at Cinderella’s castle while watching the people go by.
“I’ll spend 45 minutes to an hour just sitting in that one spot because-that’s my spot. I can see the castle. I can see the trolleys coming down. I can see all the people walking with balloons knowing, hey, I’m home,” Price said.
Every chance he has, there is one particular shift that sticks out more than others. That shift is when Price gets to work with Give Kids the World.
“Whenever I see Give Kids the World that’s the one I really get pumped up for because I know I have to bring my A-game,” he said.
Give Kids the World is an organization in Kissimmee that is paired with Disney, which allows Price to perform and fulfill the wishes of terminally-ill children, by letting those children spend a day with their favorite Disney Characters.
“Some of the kids can’t get to the park, because of their illness. It’s a shift that I love working,” Price said.
Price sees himself coaching for another 15 years, and if he continues his role as a performer at WDW that will push him into his 60s. At that point, Price said his role at Disney might change.
“My goal, when it’s all said and done, is to be the conductor of the Magic Kingdom Railroad. That is how I want to end my career there. That is what we would call in the basketball world, ‘game over drive home safely.’ I could see myself doing that until they tear that conductor’s hat off me,” he said.
